Love Child
by RaeLee15
Summary: "Wait! Please!" the man shouts out again. He's restrained by other shinobi telling him he can't follow her. Not where she's going. "Kakashi Sensei, stop, there's nothing else you can do for her," Shikamaru says sadly as he holds the man back from barging into Sakura's surgery. "She's pregnant!" he screams to the double doors as they swing closed. "She's four months pregnant!"
1. Chapter 1

Mint colored eyes stare up at a white ceiling, the fluorescent lights above rushing by. Two, three, five, seven. She's losing count. A familiar scent invades her nostrils, drawing her mind away from numbers and the slight discomfort in her head every time she tries to look around. It smells like lavender and antiseptic. _Her _hospital. She would know this particular array of smells anywhere and feel at home.

Sakura is suddenly aware of voices buzzing around her and the faint sound of wheels on cold linoleum tile. She memorized that too.

Blinking. Blinking too quickly, too much light. She tries to speak, wanting someone to turn down the brightness. But a croak escapes her lips instead of words and she's surprised. She can't talk. And someone pleads with her not to.

_How silly_, Sakura thinks._ Why shouldn't I speak?_

Snippets of conversation wiggle their way into her ears but her brain feels sluggish, refusing to process the entirety of what the voices are saying. The pink haired ninja sighs, annoyed that she isn't able to understand a single thing that is happening to her. Why is there so much white? And someone really needs to change those god awful paintings in the Intensive Care Unit.

"Critical…heart…Tsunade, immediately," the voices sing in their broken sentences. But the name of her sensei, the great Tsunade, lures her out of her peaceful reverie. The last time she saw her, she recalls listening to Lady Hokage read a mission off a scroll. That seems like lifetimes ago.

More white. Sakura is aware that she's having trouble breathing.

A mission. A mission in a far away land. She nearly remembers. The tan skin of Shikamaru and the tickle of his breath on her shoulder. Why was he standing so close? Silver hair and a concerned gray orb staring down at her, cold stars winking behind his head. Was there panic is his eyes?

Pain. Suddenly she thinks about hot, searing pain and Sakura's eyes widen. It's like a window has opened, letting in a clear, crisp breeze to brighten the dusty corners of her mind. She was injured on a mission, she realizes.

She was dying.

Sakura is desperately trying to tell the medics something but her voice refuses to work. Her senses sharpen and her head whirls, reality snapping back into place like a rubber band. Her nose is drenched in the smell of iron and blood and sweat. The ninja begins to panic, her heart painfully stuttering in her chest. Roaring, blinding hot agony shoots up her entire body and she thrashes around in her stretcher. Someone is screaming.

_It must be me, _she thinks.

"We're losing her!" someone shouts as they rush her towards the two double doors that will lead her into the operating room. They begin sticking her with tubes and IVs and an oxygen mask. Green chakra hands glare all around her, ready to be utilized.

Sakura thinks she might lose her mind. She can't speak and she has to tell them. They have to know. She's dying.

"Wait!" a man calls, his deep voice crackling against the blur of sound around her. Sakura hears him right as she reaches the double doors, about to be sealed away into the sterile chamber, her life hanging by a thread. She unclenches her fingers and reaches out for him, just a slight outstretch of her arm. She has to touch him.

One more time.

"Wait! Please!" the man shouts out again. He's restrained by other shinobi telling him he can't follow her. Not where she's going.

"She's pregnant!" he screams to the closed double doors. "She's four months pregnant!"

After hearing this, more people rush into the operating room and surround her. She's suffocating. The man's voice rings out in her ears like a siren and a lighthouse, both alarming and alluring. Her hand flutters down to her stomach and when she brings it up to her face, she sees it drenched in her own blood. The lights above Sakura slowly blink out, the whirl of faces she almost remembers nothing but hints of flesh and worried eyes.

Darkness embraces her like a cold welcome home.

The man who had warned the medics that she was with child, distraught and desperate, grips the shirt of the shinobi who is holding him back from stumbling in after Sakura. The silver haired ninja, his one visible gray eye trembling with fear, can only stare after the double doors as they swing closed. Shikamaru looks up at Kakashi and bows his head, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Oh man. I wish she had told someone earlier that she was expecting…"

Kakashi brushes him off and tries to hide the fact that his knees are weak. He looks at the younger man sadly and hopes to enlighten him as to why the most calm and collected ninja in all of the Leaf Village was suddenly crumbling to small, silver pieces.

"That baby is mine."

* * *

_Six Months Earlier_

Sakura eyes flutter open. The sunlight is bright already, bothersome. He forgot to shut the blinds and they slept in too late.

Again.

She rolls over, the white sheets of his bed wrapped loosely around her waist as she kisses his broad shoulders. The man next to her barely stirs as she watches the rise and fall of his ribcage. He's still deep in the stupor of his sleep, or so she thought until she sees a quick tremor in his hand when her lips press to his skin.

_Faker_, she thinks to herself.

Sakura smiles and her slim fingers trace the bold contours of his shoulder blades, skimming her fingernail down the ridge of his spine; his favorite spot to be touched. Her companion shivers violently and then chuckles, his sleepy voice rumbling out into the silence of her bedroom,

"Okay, okay. You caught me. I'm awake."

Yamato turns over and faces Sakura now, his strong arms curling around her and snatching her closer. The young kunoichi smiles against his neck. He smells like the aftermath of their night together and sandalwood, always the creamy fresh scent of sandalwood. Sakura buries herself in it, wishing to sink her entire being into Yamato's embrace; she did not want to face today. And she knew that Yamato would have no objection to staying in bed with her all day and do nothing if he could.

"What time is it?" he mumbles tiredly against her soft pink hair, his almond shaped eyes gazing lazily at the window as he tries to discern the time from the position of the sun. It's already late afternoon. Both of them are very late for work.

"About 1:47," she replies, glaring at the clock on his nightstand from over Yamato's shoulder. He groans suddenly, plastering her neck, collarbone, and shoulders with quick kisses, tightening his grip around her small body as he crushes her to him. Sakura laughs as they mutually try to squeeze each other as tight as they can, trying to forget about responsibility and duty for just a few moments longer.

"I don't want to leave this bed. Ever," Yamato sighs, his strong hands curling up into her cherry blossom locks. Sakura closes her eyes and hums her agreement against his collarbone. But the moment is short lived as her captain pries himself away from her. Sakura won't surrender so easily, latching her arms around his neck until Yamato is laughing as he drags her across the bed, trying to get out of it.

"Don't leave me," she says with a pout, collapsing back down when he untangles himself from her. Yamato's eyes take her all in at once, trying to sear the memory of this moment in his brain; her bright messy hair tumbling over her shoulders, soft full lips turned down in a cute little frown as the bed sheet slips farther down her body, revealing more of her perfect curvaceous frame. His eyes stare into her beautiful spring green gaze and he wants nothing more than to crawl right back into her arms.

Yamato leans down and kisses her softly. His thumb strokes her cheek and he taps his forehead to hers. He smiles gently.

"I couldn't leave you even if I tried."

And with that, Yamato starts dressing himself. He rummages through his apartment for a clean pair of dark shinobi pants. Sakura watches patiently as he tugs them on, getting ready for his day. The long sleeve navy blue shirt comes next over his strong torso and back. His jonin flak jacket hangs over his desk chair and he shrugs it on hurriedly. He's very late. But that's how most mornings with Sakura went.

"Sakura, have you seen my—" he turns around to face her, wondering where his faceguard his. The jonin smiles and chuckles as he sees Sakura kneeling in his bed, perfect in all her naked glory, with his leaf shinobi helmet placed on her cute face. It's a little big, nearly coming down over her eyes. She peers up at him though, her usual alluring 'come and get it' smirk on her face. Dangerous little vixen she is, always tempting him to choose her over work.

She wins quite often.

But not today. Yamato reaches over and carefully extracts his faceguard from her. Her pink hair falls over her eyes and he smooths it back before placing a kiss on her forehead. Sakura smiles sadly.

"I'll see you soon."

With that, his helmet tucked neatly under his arm, Yamato takes his leave. Sakura watches him go and waits for the sound of his front door shutting closed before she throws herself down and sighs. Mornings with Yamato were always like this. They were hard to finish.

* * *

Lady Tsunade stares Yamato down as he stands before her. He's late. And the Hokage has grown tired of pretending not to know why. She feels as if she can still see Sakura's reflection in his eyes dark eyes.

The two of them, her favorite apprentice and one of the village's most esteemed shinobi, are getting sloppy with hiding their relationship. And since Yamato still resides as Team Captain, their affair is Tsunade's business. She dislikes being involved in the personal lives of her men but things like Sakura and Yamato happen. Often.

"Forgive me, ma'am, I lost track of time."

Tsunade holds her hand up, signaling him to stop the excuses. Yamato averts his eyes to the floor and bows his head a little, changing his body language to that of repentance. He stands there, hands to his side, feet apart, an excellent model of a Leaf Shinobi, all geared up and ready for anything.

But right now, she doesn't want to talk to the Captain of Team Kakashi. Rather, she wants to talk to Tenzo.

"Yamato…" she says with a heavy sigh, leaning back in her chair. The male picks his head up and looks at her cautiously. After a long stretch of silence, he answers,

"M'lady?"

The Hokage turns away from him, slowly, and stands. She watches the life of the Village pulse with vibrancy and afternoon sunlight. Children play in the streets with wooden kunai knives. Mothers sweep their porches while shopkeepers wrap up customer purchases. Everywhere Lady Tsunade looks, she can easily spot the forest green of the shinobi flak jacket. Some are on patrol. Others are on their lunch break.

A veteran ninja, Tsunade spots at a distance, tugs on the hand of his child, a small little girl with a blue dress. She smiles up happily at her father. And even all the way up from the Hokage's office, she can see the slightest of fear in his wife's eyes as she watches her daughter look adoringly at her father. The life of a shinobi. Honorable, brave, just.

And sometimes too quick.

"Lady Tsunade…" Yamato says carefully, drawing her attention away from the window.

The Sanin turns to her jonin and sighs. She looks down at the personnel files of Sakura and Tenzo before closing the manila folder and giving the Captain her attention.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Yamato."

She doesn't say about what, doesn't even give him a hint. But from the look in her eye, that cautious weary gaze that she's using to stare into him, Yamato knows. She's talking about Sakura.

"With all due respect ma'am, we both do. She's not a child anymore," he says, an argument he uses often with himself when the guilt sometimes sting a little too much after they're done making love. Yamato brushes the thought away and keeps his eyes locked on his Hokage's. He would stand his ground.

"No. She isn't. But there's more to Sakura than I think you'll ever begin to understand, Yamato." The King of the Leaf Village takes her seat once again and leans her elbows on the desk, clasping her hands together in front of her face. Yamato clears his throat.

"I think I do a fine job of taking care of her, ma'am. On the battlefield and off it." No one has yet to know about him and Sakura. Only the Hokage knows but that was an accidental occurrence. He's going to have to make his case over and over again with the time comes. If he can't win it with the Hokage, Sakura's most beloved teacher, maybe he doesn't deserve her.

Tsunade nods, brushing her blonde hair from her pale cheeks. "I don't doubt that you do, Yamato. You're a very thorough individual. A very caring person. You're more than capable of providing for her." The Hokage's hazel eyes, intricate and deep in thought, seem to look right through him. "But is she capable of providing for you?"

The thought rattles Yamato a little. But before the issue can be further elaborated, Tsunade picks up a scroll from her desk and hands it out for the shinobi to take. Yamato slips back into his professional attitude and opens it up, his eyes passing over the script swiftly. There's the slightest of tremors in his hand as he gets to the good part. Calmly, Yamato folds the scroll back up and tucks it into the inside of his jacket.

"Are we clear on your mission, Captain?" Lady Tsunade asks. "Do not let them leave the Land of Fire. No matter what it takes."

Yamato nods. "My team?"

"Waiting on standby for another hour. You still have some time to prepare yourself," she adds knowingly. When the silence drags on for a few more moments than necessary, Yamato politely asks,

"Is that all?"

Tsunade turns back around in her chair, standing up once again to look out over the village. Before she gets too lost in thought, she waves her hand dismissively. "Yes. You're free to go."

Yamato turns on the balls of his feet and heads for the door. His hand is on the knob when Lady Tsunade calls back to him,

"Captain Yamato?" She looks back over her shoulder at him, watching the tense stature of his shoulders. "Good luck."

His almond eyes darken a little, picking up on the slight double meaning of her words.

"Thank you, m'lady."

And with that Yamato exits, leaving Tsunade to brood over the fates of many as she watches the sun glare onto Konoha.

* * *

"When will you be back?"

Yamato sits on the edge of Sakura's desk at the hospital as she pours over mountains of paperwork. Her pen is in her mouth and she chews it on it lightly, a nervous reaction to either her enormous load of charts and files to sift through or his pending mission, Yamato doesn't know.

"I don't know. A week. Maybe two. It all depends, really," he says with a sigh.

"Depends on variables that I can't know, right?" she replies, a little bitingly at being left in the dark about his mission. Yamato gives her nose a light tap with his finger and chuckles.

"That's right. S ranks are classified."

"Yeah, yeah, I know already," she huffs, slightly annoyed as she swats his hand away. Yamato smiles and after checking over his shoulder to make sure no one is watching, he trails his thumb along her cheek softly, tracing the natural hint of blush on her smooth skin.

"Try not to miss me too much while I'm gone?" he asks playfully, dropping his hand back to his side. But Sakura catches the slightest hint of seriousness in his voice and looks up at Yamato. His lips are smiling but his eyes are telling a different story.

That's usually the problem with dating a shinobi. You never know when it'll be the last time.

"I'll try my best," she says with a smile, trying to ease the nerves that she knows are gnawing in his stomach. Making sure that no one is watching once again, Sakura's fingers go to his hand resting on his thigh and she gives it a squeeze. His fingers capture hers and bring her wrist up to his mouth so he can kiss the underside of it.

Yamato's always been a little obsessed with a tiny moon shaped scar there. He thinks it to be endearing.

"I'll see you soon," he says firmly, making a promise not only to her but to himself as he gets up to leave. Sakura nods and Yamato ruffles her pink hair up a bit, earning him another light swat.

"Go already," she hisses, "stop bothering me."

Yamato laughs, shouldering his backpack and heads for the front doors of the hospital. He gives a wave over his shoulder at her and Sakura watches, sadly once again, as he leaves her for the second time today.

A few minutes pass and Sakura finds herself already missing him terribly, watching the door to see if he'll come running back inside and ask for one more kiss before he goes. The clock ticks. Nothing. But Sakura knows better. Yamato and his team are probably already heading out, passing the main gate and into the outskirts of Konoha.

_It's going to be a long two weeks_, she decides.

To pass the time, and to get him off her mind, Sakura buries herself once again into her paperwork. Charts, files, prescriptions, notes. The work is endless. She sees a few patients, mostly some eager genin and the butcher who's complaining of chest pain.

Before she knows it, a few hours pass and it's nearly time to go home.

Sakura decides she might stop by Naruto's place and see what he's up to. Or Ino's. Either way, she needs to find some way to keep busy. She's no longer the type of girl to sit at home and brood over the absence of a man. Sasuke taught her that valuable lesson.

"Hey Sakura," chimes a familiar voice, pulling away from her thoughts, "What's up?"

The pink haired ninja smiles down at the chart she just signed off. _Oh what perfect timing. _

"Hey there Kakashi Sen—Oh! Sensei, your arm," she says, suddenly alarmed as she looks up at Konoha's copy ninja who is standing in front of her desk, arm rather bruised and burned. It's causing him quite a bit of pain, Sakura can tell, by the way he pulls his eyebrows together even though he tries to smile. Typical Kakashi Sensei.

"Oh this? This is nothing, really. Just a little sparring match with Naruto and well, he won. Again." The silver haired ninja is sweating slightly, beads of it skimming down the side of his face as he holds his bad arm steady. His one eye watches her as she gets up from her chair and goes to examine it. She tugs the sleeve back and presses soft fingers to the scalded skin.

He'll never say it out loud. He needs her to fix him up.

"Come on, then," she says with a sigh, tugging him along by the sleeve of his good arm, "Let's get you cleaned up."


	2. Chapter 2

Kakashi waited patiently on an examination table while Sakura went to go gather a few materials to treat his injury. But oh how he hated hospitals. Mostly due to the fact that as he grows older, Kakashi has been spending more and more time being treated than he has ever before. The thought makes him sigh. He's not even close to retirement. But sometimes his body just disagrees.

"Alright sensei, let's get that arm patched up and ready to go," says Sakura as she pulls the curtain back from around his table, an armful of gauze and things. She closes off his examination section once again before setting down the supplies and taking another closer look at his arm. Her small fingers tuck back the navy blue shinobi shirt gingerly. He hisses under his breath as her fingernail grazes some charred skin, the nerves exposed and raw.

Sakura smirks lightly.

"You need to be careful, Kakashi sensei. You aren't as young as you used to be," she taunts as she folds his sleeve into a cuff to keep it out of the way. Kakashi watches her hands do the work, trying to distract himself from the pain.

"I'm not old either, Sakura. Naruto just has a lot more energy than I do." The silver haired ninja winces as her hand hovers over his arm and begins to glow that famous medicinal green. There's a sting as the skin begins to repair itself thanks to her ninjutsu. Kakashi grits his teeth from the privacy of his mask.

"Is that so?" she asks with a chuckle. The kunoichi lets her hand fade back to its original color.

"But then again, I don't think anyone has the amount of energy that Naruto has." Kakashi gives a soft laugh and Sakura looks up from her handiwork to see him crinkling his only visible eye the way he does to let everyone know he's smiling. It's rather contagious, causing Sakura to grin herself as she thinks of her blue eyed best friend beating Kakashi sensei in their match.

"Yeah, he is something else isn't he?" she says proudly. "This is gonna burn for a second." Kakashi barely has time to react before she's slapping on an ointment for burns. The copy ninja gives another slight hiss as it burns down into his skin before it soothes the entire arm of pain. Sakura laughs as Kakashi's face relaxes, the palm of her hand rubbing the filmy substance up and down the length of his forearm slowly. His skin tingles where she's touching but Kakashi doesn't think it's from the serum.

"Better?" she asks with a giggle, her green eyes flickering to his stormy gray orb. He looks back at her and nods sheepishly. "Good. You can go back to playing with Naruto in about a day or two," she warns softly as she wraps his arm up in bandages to keep the ointment on his skin for a few more hours. Kakashi watches her bite her lip in concentration. His mouth perks up in a little smile.

"When's the last time you and I went for a round, Sakura?" he asks, suddenly curious. It has definitely been awhile since he's gone toe to toe with her. "Tsunade likes to keep you all to herself lately."

As she cleans up her area, Sakura laughs and looks at him from the corner of her eye. "Yes, it has been awhile, sensei."

"You're probably rusty by now. That's what happens when you spend too much time in the hospital doing paperwork and not enough time on the training field." Kakashi smirks beneath his mask, waiting for Sakura to take his taunting bait.

"I'll have you know, sensei, that I train three hours a day, every single day. Lady Tsunade says that a fine ninja must always have their mind and body in a perfectly balanced unison. I could kick your old geezer butt anytime," she snaps back at him, whipping the curtain aside so she can leave. Kakashi gets to his feet, lazily slipping his hands into his pockets, and follows her. He leans against her desk casually, watching her hurriedly fill out his injury report.

"I doubt that but if you want to give it a try, all you gotta do is ask," he says, a little smugly. Sakura scribbles on his file and without looking up, she retorts,

"I'll put you in the hospital for a lot longer than Naruto will, sensei." Her green eyes look up at him mischievously and Kakashi rubs the back of his silver hair, thinking back to how she can crack the very earth with a single blow. Sakura laughs and starts chewing on the end of her pen.

"Nervous about something?" he asks smoothly. The younger ninja glances up at her sensei, the hint of concern there on the slightest crease of his eyebrow. _It's funny, _decides Sakura, _How well you know Kakashi sensei is dictated by how well you can read his face when ¾ of it never shows. _

"No," she lies, "Nothing at all."

Sakura doesn't take her eyes off of Kakashi's charts, not wanting him to see the fabricated truth written plainly across her face. She was thinking about Yamato. He could be gone from one week to three, depending on what kind of trouble he gets caught up in. Sakura knows Yamato is a fine shinobi, he can take care of himself. But she wishes he was already back home in bed, waiting for her.

Kakashi watches the slightest, most obscure downward turn of the right hand corner of her mouth. It's always been Sakura's telltale sign of lying. His curiosity peaks.

"You've never been good at lying, Sakura," he says in a low voice, leaning in closer to her so that no one around them can eavesdrop. The kunoichi looks up and sees Kakashi's masked face closer now than before. She grins and inches further into the private bubble of their conversation.

There's a stutter in Kakashi's heartbeat as he stares into Sakura's emerald green gaze which is suddenly mere inches from him.

"Go find someone else to bother sensei," she grabs his headband and jerks it down over both eyes, "I'm busy."

Kakashi pulls back and lifts his forehead protector back where it belongs. He gives a low chuckle and then a deep sigh. Sakura tears off his copy of the injury report and hands it to him. The copy ninja retrieves it sulkily from her delicate fingers. "Am I so wrong for wanting to spend time with my favorite pink haired student?"

Sakura leans back in her chair and stares him down, raising a dangerous eyebrow. "Go get yourself fatally wounded, sensei, and you and I will be spending _too much_ time together."

"Yeah, no thanks," he replies immediately, already turning on the balls of his feet to head out. He loathes hospitals. "I'll leave the lazy sitting around all day for you."

Sakura growls under her breath and shakes her fist at him as he leaves. "I'll take you on any time, sensei, just say the word!"

Kakashi chuckles, the smooth slow rhythm of it slipping back all the way to Sakura's ears as he reaches the double doors of the hospital. Sakura watches his retreating back and that mess of silver hair as he gives her a lazy wave from over his shoulder.

"And I'm your only pink haired student!" she calls out.

The doors shut behind Kakashi and Sakura leans back in her chair, chewing once again on the end of her pen as she smiles to herself, thinking about the creases around Kakashi's eye when he laughs.

Casual days with Kakashi were always like this. Annoying, bothersome. But yet, he could leave you forgetting that you had anything to worry about in the first place.

* * *

The sun had set over Konoha about an hour ago. Sakura's shift just ended at the hospital. She had stopped by her house to shower and change. But mostly to grab her bottle of sake. The kunoichi decided to go see what Naruto was up to tonight, maybe they could get Shikamaru and Ino to come over and they would get a drinking game going. Whatever plans she had for the rest of the night, Sakura just didn't want to go home so soon. She had been spending most of her evenings at Yamato's nowadays. Her own home just felt like a place to sleep and shower lately. Not much to want to go back to.

Sakura breathed in the crisp September air as she made her way to the Uzumaki residence, refusing to let her mind dwell on her Captain. He was a fine shinobi. The man could take care of himself.

Leaves crunched beneath her sandals, the telltale sign that autumn has taken its rightful place in Konoha for the season. The pink haired ninja enjoyed the view as she climbed the stairs of Naruto's apartment complex, that brief feeling of awe that every shinobi gets when they look up at the heads of the five Hokages passing over her.

"Hey, Naruto," she calls as she knocks on his door, "It's me. Open up."

There's some rustling inside, the faint crash of something fragile breaking, a long string of profanities, and then Naruto's cheerful face peers out from the doorframe. He gives her a smile and steps out from behind the door. Sakura raises an eyebrow.

"Why are you wearing a kimono?"

Naruto looks down at his traditional clothing. The typical black male kimono with a bright sash of blues and greens that make his eyes glow a lighter, more prominent shade of sapphire.

"The question is, Sakura, why aren't _you _wearing one?" He crosses his arms over his chest, looking her up and down as she stands there inher ninja gear. She self-consciously tucks some pink hair behind her ear, confused. "Earth to Sakura, today is Shikamaru's birthday! His party is in thirty minutes!" the ninja cries exasperatedly, throwing his hands up in the air. "I'm supposed to go pick you up at your house so we could go together!"

Sakura immediately feels like the worst friend ever. Her shoulders hunch forward and her cheeks turn a bright shade of red. How could she forget Shikamaru's birthday? His mother has only pestered all of Konoha about it for weeks.

"Oh I'm a terrible person," she says, face palming herself softly as Naruto watches her sulk.

"Go on, hurry home and get dressed," he says softly after a few minutes. "I'll meet you at your house in fifteen. But first…" he reaches over and plucks the bottle of sake from Sakura's grasp.

"Hey, Naruto, that's mi—" the door slams in her face.

Sakura huffs, frustrated, and takes off without another word at full speed. She hops from rooftop to rooftop, chiding herself for not remembering Shika's birthday party. Now her and Naruto were going to be late.

Sakura races into her house and pulls open her closet, hurriedly stripping down to her underwear so she can pull on her classic kimono of pinks and reds with an orange obi around the middle. "Mom!" Sakura calls from the upstairs. There's a clash of pans and the annoyed huff that Sakura imitates so well.

"What is it, Sakura?"

"Could you come tie my obi?" she answers back.

Small footsteps make their way up the stairs to Sakura's room. Her mother, with her slick dirty blonde hair and Sakura's stern green eyes, enters and immediately goes over to her daughter.

"You really need to clean this room, Sakura-chan," she says in the tone of a typical mother. "Or at least be home often enough to attempt to clean it."

"I know, Mom, I've just been busy." Sakura dislikes lying to her mom but she was telling at least half the truth. Busy with Yamato is a more accurate statement. But her mother would never approve of her dating her Captain.

There's the push and pull of Sakura's body as her mother works diligently on tying and straightening her daughter's kimono and obi. A comfortable silence falls over them as Mebuki even takes the initiative to twist Sakura's hair into an up-do that can sustain the kimono's matching dangling ornament, a string of sparkling cherry blossoms.

"What's the occasion?" Mebuki asks.

"Hmm?" Sakura asks, dazed as she surfaces from thinking about Yamato and his lips. "Oh it's Shikamaru Nara's birthday today. His parents are throwing a rather nice party for him at the Nara residence."

"I rather like that boy," Mebuki comments, glancing sideways at her daughter through the mirror. "He would be a great husband one day."

Sakura makes a face and rolls her eyes. Typical Mebuki, always trying to set her up with men from the Village. "I thought you didn't want me to marry a shinobi, Mom."

The Haruno matriarch sighs, slipping the ornament expertly into Sakura's bright hair. She grabs her daughter by the shoulders gently and turns her around to face her reflection in the mirror. Sakura's striking green eyes glow from amongst the hues of cherry, crimson and a sunset orange. The kimono makes her skin look soft and creamy, complimenting the color of it while it dips low at the back of the neck, revealing the beginning of Sakura's shoulder blades. The kunoichi smiles a little. She wishes Yamato could see her like this.

"Asking you not to marry a shinobi would be useless. If I know anything about my daughter," Mebuki gives Sakura a kiss on the cheek, gazing at the two of their reflections, "her heart burns with the Will of Fire. A man who does not burn for Konoha," she says as she turns away from her daughter and begins to descend the stairs, "cannot properly burn in love with you."

* * *

"Oh Sakura dear, you look absolutely beautiful!" cries Mrs. Nara, wrapping Sakura up in a bear hug. The kunoichi glances sideways at Naruto who is sniggering, inching away slowly to the food table so he can go unnoticed.

"Thank you, Yoshino-san. You look lovely as well," Sakura says with a smile, giving Shikamaru's mother a slight bow. The Nara woman looks appreciatively down at her forest green and beige kimono with intricate designs of forests and beautiful tan deer along the hem.

"Shikamaru!" his mother suddenly snaps over her shoulder, "come over here!"

The party is in full swing. Shikaku has hung up paper lanterns in the yard of the Nara household, creating a twinkling atmosphere as coy fish swim in the family's pond. There's tables upon tables of food and with a growing fire in the middle of it all surrounded by cushion seats where fellow shinobi and guests lounge and talk. Young members of the Nara clan chase each other around the yard with their wooden kunai knives while Akamaru tackles Naruto when he approaches, earning laughter from Sakura's peers who are gathered underneath the same tree.

She can see Shikamaru's ponytail from here. His shoulders tense up as his mother calls him over sharply. Sakura can't help but giggle as he practically sulks over to them, his shoulders hunching almost immediately as he sees who his mother is talking to.

"Mommmm," he whines, "not this again. Sakura and I are just friends, leave it al—" Shikamaru suddenly ducks as his mother turns to give him a backhanded slap upside the head.

"Enough of that, Shikamaru, tell Sakura-chan how lovely she looks tonight and how glad you are that she decided to attend your party," his mother demands, giving Sakura a bright grin as she takes advantage of Shikamaru's shock to successfully slap him around.

"Alright, Mom, alright!" he argues, swatting her quick hands away. Shikamaru gives his signature 'what a drag' sigh and rubs the back of his head nervously. He avoids Sakura's amused stare and speaks to her nose.

"Hello Sakura. You look rather beautiful tonight," he repeats almost robotically, "I'm glad you decided to come to my party." He gets a nudge in the ribs from Yoshino-san who's looking at him sternly. "Can I get you something to eat or drink?"

Sakura giggles while Mrs. Nara looks rather pleased with herself, awaiting Sakura's response. The pink haired ninja bows her head to Shikamaru.

"Happy Birthday, Shikamaru-kun. Thank you for inviting me. A drink would be lovely."

With that she loops her arm through Shikamaru's who nearly drags her away from his mother. Her husband approaches and Yoshino-san excitedly recounts to him how his son might finally be able to get a nice girlfriend who will whip him into shape. Truth be told, Shikaku looks as uncomfortable as Shikamaru does as he pours Sakura a fruity kind of lemonade. She raises an eyebrow at her peer when he hands her the cup. Shikamaru leans in and says behind his hand discreetly,

"We're breaking out the sake when all the family leaves."

Sakura laughs and nods, sipping at her drink, as she watches the party goers enjoy themselves. There's laughter, loud talking, story-telling, and lots of eating. Shikaku is chiding the Nara clan children who have the ability to yield chakra to get off the roof. Sakura's eye settles on the group of Nara women who are pointing and giggling at her and their most available bachelor, Shikamaru. He blushes visibly and rubs the back of his head.

"Sorry about that, they've been playing matchmaker for weeks now. And I don't know what your mom said to my mom but you're her number one pick as of now."

Sakura laughs and puts her hand on Shikamaru's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Don't worry Shika, your my mother's favorite candidate as well." The two of them chuckle about the whole awkward situation over their glasses of lemonade. Over his shoulder, Ino is gesturing for the two of them to join the rest of the young shinobi under the tree they have staked their claim under. The gift to Shikamaru that was supposedly from Naruto, the sake bottle he stole from Sakura, is being secretly passed around between all of them. Rock Lee is already starting to sing, his big dark eyes drooping. Neji scowls out from the branch above his teammate, keeping a close on him. Lee has never mixed well with alcohol.

"Come on, Shika, let's enjoy your party," she says with a smile. Sakura grabs his wrist and hauls him over to their friends who all excitedly exclaim once they get there, hands up and voices loud. Ino and Sakura both touch each other's kimonos, aweing over the beauty of each one while Hinata presents Shikamaru with a small present, stumbling over her words as usual.

Moments like these, Sakura always loves. She looks around at her friends having a good time, at the Nara children trying to imitate the every move of Shikamaru and his friends, all excellent shinobi in Konoha. Minutes, maybe even a few hours, of normalcy where they are all reminded that their lives stretch beyond being ninja? Those are some of Sakura's favorite moments. Just like today.

"Heyyy Sakura!" calls Naruto, slurring a little now that he has drank most of the bottle himself. His cheeks are flushed and his blue eyes are a little glazed as he sways over to his pink haired teammate. "Do you wanna dance with me?" Naruto belches and then leans in, his lips puckered for a kiss.

Sakura, annoyed that her appreciative demeanor has been ruined, lashes out and gives him a good hit on the top of his head. "Get lost, Uzumaki!"

The yellow haired jinchuuriki falls back, yelping and mumbling about how mean Sakura is, into Sai's arms who apologizes rapidly to the kunoichi for their teammate's behavior. She scowls at Naruto. But his goofy smile and glazed sky blue eyes make her chuckle and she looks out at the older shinobi all clustered around the fire, drinking themselves away just like Sakura and her friends. She thinks about Yamato and how he would've wanted to be here.

_He would've enjoyed the good company._

Suddenly she catches the eye of her sensei, his silver hair reflecting the light of the glowing flames as if it was on fire, and he gives a lazy wave in her direction. Sakura rolls her eyes and returns the favor, bowing her head slightly in acknowledgement. She's about to turn back to her group but is suddenly interested when a group of Nara children tug on Kakashi's pant leg. They all plead with him, their hands clasped together, eyes big and irresistible. They're asking him for something, Sakura can't hear them very well.

The copy ninja strokes his chin dramatically, pondering their request as the children nearly bounce and up down with excitement and desperation for him to agree. Kakashi shakes his hand and is about to turn back to the conversation he's having with some jonin. The Nara children's little shoulders hunch over, disappointed.

Sakura frowns. _Well that was mean._

But then Kakashi whips back around and squats down in front of the kids. He brings his palms up and concentrates, hard. Suddenly, blue lightning begins crackling from his fingertips and the children stare, amazed at the power of it all. They holler and whoop, watching his chakra splinter and crack until it fades. Kakashi grins at them, closing his eye to signal this, as the children thank him and go back to playing, chasing each other with their arms outstretched, pretending to emit lightning from their palms.

Kakashi stands back up, chuckling to himself as he watches the kids take off excitedly. He looks over to Shikamaru and his group where Sakura still has an eye on her sensei, studying him curiously, a hint of a smile on her pink lips.

The copy ninja turns back to his group as he takes a sip of his drink, pretending to laugh at one of Izumo's jokes. Kakashi stares into the fire and instead of flames, he sees the vibrant colors of Sakura's kimono blending and twisting before him, her jade colored gaze watching him even when he closes his eyes.

* * *

"I just want to thank everybody," Shikamaru starts, getting to his feet. All of the Nara clan had left and his parents had retired inside. The shinobi stayed to drink and enjoy the night off, lounging around the fire as they finish off the Nara's sake and clean them out of food so nothing goes to waste.

The man of the hour had risen to his feet, a little drunk himself but still functional, and raised his cup of sake to the fire, preparing to make a toast. Everyone listened intently.

"I want to thank everybody to coming out to this annoying party that my parents organized for me." He gave a little half smile, acknowledging that he appreciated their efforts despite his snarky words. "I know that there's a lot of faces missing from this party tonight. Some are off on missions, risking their lives at this very moment while others…" he glances down at the plate of food and sake that they had respectfully laid out for Asuma, "have moved on to another life. And it's for them, for our men out in the field, and for our men who have died and passed on their Will of Fire to those of us who survived to fight another day, that I propose we take our last drink of the night for. Not for me. For our brothers in arms. For our fallen." He raises his glass higher and everyone follows suit.

"And for each other."

"And for each other," they all repeat after Shikamaru. Everyone knocks back their last drink of the night and get up to leave. The men put out the fire while the women collect the plates and cups, not wanting to leave Shikamaru's mother will all the mess in the morning. Shinobi that have the next shifts take off almost immediately to go get an hour of shut eye and then return to work. Others turn to go home to their families.

Sakura and Sai hoist Naruto up by his arms, wrapping him around their shoulders to support him on his feet.

"Guys, guys, I can walk, don't—" Naruto hiccups, "don't worry about me. I'll be fiiiine." The blue eyed ninja trips over his own feet and almost goes stumbling forward. But Sai hauls him back up and looks worriedly out at the distance that it will take to drag Naruto to his own bed.

"Don't worry guys, Akamaru and I got it," says Kiba, taking Naruto from Sakura's grasp. He and Sai shift Naruto over to Akamaru who is laying patiently on the ground. "I'm gonna need you to hold steady onto Akamaru, okay Naruto?"

The jinchuuriki hiccups again as he smiles goofily up at Kiba, eyes seemingly going in and out of focus. "Yes sir, Kiba, sir, I've always wanted to take Akamaru for a ride," he says gleefully, taking handfuls of the dog's fur in his clutches as he rises to his feet on Kiba's command.

"Be safe, Naruto," Sakura warns, crossing her arms over her chest. Sai gives her a quiet response about he'll follow them to make sure Naruto gets home safely. Sakura nods at her teammate and the three boys and Akamaru take off, Naruto howling into the night like a dog.

"Idiots." The kunoichi shakes her head, says her goodbyes to Shikamaru who is peacefully laying in the grass watching the moon, and takes her leave.

She's barely a few feet from the Nara residence when she hears the familiar whirl of a ninja appearing beside her. His footsteps fall into line with hers. Sakura smiles. There's silence for a few moments, just the sound of their feet and the tinkling of her cherry blossom ornament dangling from her hair.

"What're you doing, Kakashi sensei?" she finally says with a sigh.

The older ninja gives a chuckle and lazily slips his hands into his pockets. He shrugs his shoulders absently. "Just thought you'd like some company on the way home. We don't live far from each other."

"Did you enjoy Shikamaru's party?" Sakura asks, glancing sideways at her sensei who has one gray orb trained on the lights of downtown Konoha ahead. Another shrug.

"Naruto was too intoxicated for my liking but yes, his parents threw a nice party."

Sakura laughs softly and agrees.

Kakashi rubs the back of his head and clears his throat. "So what's up with you and Shikamaru? I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with his mother." The copy ninja peers down at Sakura, that famous crease outlining the edge of his eye again to let her know he's smiling. Sakura waves her hand dismissively on the subject.

"His mother and my mother are on some secret mission to get us hitched. But that's never gonna happen," she replies, shaking her head at the idea.

"Well why not?"

Sakura looks up at Kakashi, surprised, who is look right back at her, earnestly curious.

"Shikamaru's a fine young man. Comes from a good family. An excellent shinobi. Good looking, I suppose. If he wasn't so lazy, Shikamaru could very well become Hokage. He'd have to kill Naruto for the position but still." Kakashi closes his eye and smiles down at Sakura, giving another half-ass shrug. "Why not marry him?"

The kunoichi scoffs and rolls her eyes. "The boy spends his free time watching clouds. Not interested."

"Well what about Kiba? He's very active, athletic, loves animals. Seems like a good ca—"

"Are you trying to play matchmaker, Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asks, laughing rather hard at the absurdity of the situation. Her shoulders shake with her amusement as she brushes hair from her eyes, Kakashi waving his hands and stuttering about how he wasn't trying to do such a thing.

"I'm just saying Sakura, you've grown up to be a fine young woman." Sakura suddenly stops laughing, a faint rush of blood curling up into her cheeks as she listens to her sensei talk. "I don't know what's wrong with your generation but in the shinobi world, most ninjas your age begin to marry off and start families. Better sooner than later. I'm just saying. You should keep your options open."

They walk in silence for a few moments, about to pass the training grounds. Sakura is smiling to herself but she's not sure why. It was a good night and Kakashi sensei is good company. She looks up at the copy ninja and nudges him in the ribs, loosening him from the hold of his own thoughts.

"Well what about you. You're getting pretty old, sensei. Why haven't you settled down?"

Kakashi sighs and scratches his head, pondering the question before he simply looks at her and says,

"It's just not really my style. I'll stick to what I'm good at. And I'm not old, Sakura," he whines exasperatedly, growing tired of her constant reminder that he's starting to push his way out of his twenties.

"I can still take you on, anytime, anywhere and win," she teases, turning up her nose at him. A smirk plays on the corner of her lips as they continue on their way towards the village. Kakashi suddenly stops walking. Sakura looks back at him and raises an eyebrow as he stands there in the middle of the road. "Something wrong?"

"Come on, Sakura," he says, turning his back and heading into the training field. "Let's have a match. For old time's sake."

"Are you drunk?" she asks, laughing as he continues to delve deeper into the training grounds. Like a magnet, Sakura follows. Her sensei waits patiently in the middle of the field, one hand on his hip, the other holding Make-Out Paradise as he reads.

"Maybe a little," he replies absently, his gray eye lifting to meet her green gaze from a few feet away as she stumbles after him in her kimono. "But you keep squabbling on about how you can beat me so I'd like to see you try."

"Kakashi sensei, it wouldn't be a fair match! Look at me, I'm all dressed up in a gown and you're wearing ninja gear. The odds are tilted in your advantage, you cheater." She smiles exasperatedly over at her sensei who's seriously ready to fight her in the middle of the training grounds this late at night.

"I think you're just scared, Sakura," he mentions with the flip of a page.

Her green eyes narrow a little. "I am not scared. You just have the upper hand."

"Because I'm better at hand to hand combat than you are?"

"Dream on."

"Fight me, Sakura, and we'll see if you can really beat this old man."

Sakura stares at him, dumbfounded that Kakashi sensei is really serious about this. He's almost as lazy as Shikamaru sometimes, choosing to avoid situations that require more effort than what he feels like giving. Fighting her in the middle of the training fields at nearly one in the morning while they're both a little tipsy just seems crazy.

"Okay what's the wager?" she asks. Sakura knows that she has nothing better to do right now. Yamato isn't home, her parents are asleep, all her friends are passed out drunk or on missions. Why not spar with Kakashi? If she's lucky, she can hustle him out of something.

The copy ninja strokes his chin as he thinks, eyes trained to the sky. He takes a few moments while Sakura slips out of her wooden sandals and socks, relishing in the feeling of cool grass beneath her toes. She tucks the sleeves of her kimono back to keep out of her way and reaches back behind her, tightening her obi.

"How about the winner gets treated to dinner tomorrow?" he calls out to her.

Sakura nods and takes her stance. "Sounds like a date, sensei. You're on."

The jonin sheds his weapons pouches and his flak jacket, fighting better in hand to hand with less in his way. He spreads his feet apart, puts his arms up in an automatic stance for either offense or defense and smiles over at Sakura.

"Ready when you a—"

Before he can even finish his sentence, Sakura is racing towards him, her fist pulled back for a frontal attack. The ninja stops her assault mid-punch with his hand clenched over her fist. They struggle in a power hold for a few moments before Sakura flashes out of sight and then reappears behind him, a roundhouse kick aiming for the side of his face.

The copy ninja senses her presence and ducks, using her momentum to his advantage. He grabs her by the ankle but Sakura brings her other foot back around for the second wave of the attack when he swings her around towards him. Kakashi is forced to let go and uses his arms to block her kick.

"Nice counter, Sakura. But it's still not good enough," he chants as she uses his forearms as a springboard to reorganize herself a few feet away from him. Sakura merely smirks.

Their blood is racing, foreheads sweating as they keep up with each other. Neither of them can land a single hit, constantly flipping and blocking, their bodies begin to fight in unison with one another. Sakura cannot move until Kakashi moves first. They dance together beneath the Konoha moon, amazed at just how long it has been since the spar began. Neither of them talk, refusing to break the music of their match; skin slamming against skin and the rapid tinkling of Sakura's cherry blossom ornament still dangling from her hair.

Sakura is good. Really good. But Kakashi will always be better.

The kunoichi makes her only mistake. Her foot stomps on the end of her kimono and her balance is thrown off. She breaks one of the biggest rules of shinobi hand to hand combat; never take your eyes off your enemy.

Sakura peers down to see her foot caught in the hem of her dress when Kakashi takes his chance. He deflects her defected punch now that she tripped and lost her momentum. Kakashi's body sinks low to the ground and using the wind up energy of a kick, he side sweeps her legs right out from under her and Sakura goes tumbling back. But she's not going down so easily.

As Sakura began her fall backwards, she grabbed onto the sleeve of Kakashi's shirt as he was rising up from his side sweep. With the impressive amount of strength that she holds in her tiny body, Sakura manages to hang onto him, using her legs to turn them both over in mid-air. When they land, Sakura is straddling his hips, a chakra intensified fist pulled back and ready to strike where it can theoretically kill him.

"I win," she pants.

Kakashi stares up at her, awestruck that she was able to turn the match around in the last moment, and sighs. His ribcage rises and falls heavily as he tries to catch his breath, sweat beading down the side of his face. Sakura smiles smugly at him, her chest rising and falling at the same desperate pace as him. Her neck glistens with the evidence of their match and her hair is matted to her forehead with the fruit of their efforts as well.

They stay like that for a moment, just breathing. Sakura lowers her fist, her free hand still clenched into the front of his shinobi shirt, and her heart remains beating at an unnaturally high pace. But right beneath the palm of her hand, she can feel Kakashi's heart hammering just as hard against his ribs. A few moments pass and Sakura hasn't moved, frozen in her place as his one gray eye looks up into her shockingly green gaze, holding her there until she feels like something terrible will happen if she looks away.

Their blood still boils hot and as Sakura pants over her sensei, he reaches up and pulls away a leaf from her pink hair as it was tangled in the cherry blossom ornament.

A half-hearted smile pulls at his lips even though she can't see it.

"Well that was rather impressive Sakura. Looks like I owe you dinner."

His words break Sakura out of her trance and she, a little embarrassed, rolls off of him and rests beside his still frame. They stare up at the stars and wait until both of their hearts return to a decent rhythm. Now it is really late, nearing two in the morning. Most of the village is asleep yet Sakura and Kakashi Hatake have just finished a rigorous sparring match against the other.

_But that's how most days with Kakashi go_, Sakura thinks as she turns her head to look at her sensei, his one stormy eye turned upwards to the sky in wonder, _He tends to make you lose track of time._


	3. Chapter 3

The wind is howling like a wounded animal. It makes Yamato's skin crawl as he watches the rain lash out at everything it can touch, including himself. He can feel it in the Earth, the sky argues and quarrels with the ground below like two brothers locked in a power struggle. He has to keep a careful eye on this storm or it might doom the success of the entire mission.

But for now, the shinobi of the Leaf push onward.

"Captain Yamato!" cries Genma.

The squad leader squints his almond shaped eyes to his right, glancing at the comrade who is covering his flank. Genma's hair is matted to his face with rain water and his foot nearly loses hold on a slippery tree branch. The Captain's hand tremors once, nervously.

"What is it?" he replies over the wail of the storm.

"We should take shelter!" Genma shouts back. There's a crash from behind them and Yamato looks over his shoulder to see another member of their squad lose the traction of their feet, nearly pummeling to the ground until his left hand catches on a branch. The ninja hauls himself up with some effort but catches up to the rest of his team shortly, wiping the wetness from his eyes. He takes a shaky breath before nodding to his platoon leader.

Genma looks urgently at the Captain. "It isn't safe out here. Someone can get hurt. And if we run into the enemy, these aren't prime conditions to fight in!"

Yamato looks straight ahead, trying to think. His thoughts are cut short when the rain becomes so thick that the ninja can barely see in front of him, nearly colliding with the curling limb of a tree. He grabs onto it and flips over the branch at the last moment, avoiding ugly contact between the bark and his skull.

Genma's right. They can barely see in this storm. Let alone sense the approach of the enemy. And these aren't ordinary opponents. Who knows what kind of powers they possess, they could even have the ability to see through terrible circumstances such as these, something his entire team lacks.

Yamato looks over his shoulder as his platoon. They're drenched to the bone, shivering and slipping against the slick bark of the woods as they continue their trek to their destination. If they stop and wait out the storm, they lose valuable and precious time. If they don't stop, they could have an accident or run into trouble that cannot be easily faced. How likely is it that the enemy is pushing themselves through something as disabling as this? If they were smart, they would stop.

"Alright," he says authoritatively over the wind, "keep your eyes open for shelter! We'll stop at the first place we can find. I need to get you guys out of this storm."

His team nods and they begin multi-tasking, keeping an eye out for their surroundings but also looking for shelter. Thunder rolls and lightning cracks above them, pressuring Yamato for time. _Someone's going to get pneumonia out here_, he thinks to himself as his eyes scan the area to his left. A quick look over his shoulder again only validates his theory. The young man covering the back of the formation, his cheeks are starting to look flushed and his eyes look a little heavy.

"There!" Genma shouts. "Cave at 2 o'clock!" He signals with his right hand and the entire platoon shifts their direction in unison. Yamato's shoulder accidentally rams into a stray branch that he didn't see in time. There's a pulse of pain running through it as they reach the mouth of the cave that Genma pointed out. It's only a few feet away from their trail, not exactly discreet, but Yamato doesn't have the luxury of considering other options. They didn't come prepared for this kind of weather.

"It's a goddamn hurricane," the youngest member of the squad shouts out over the wind as they come to a halt. His teeth chatter together as he stands there, resisting the urge to put his arms around himself.

Yamato puts a finger to his lips and signals with his hands for Genma to clear the cave while his other jonin, Raido, goes to clear the surrounding area. Yamato counts down the seconds until his return while Genma gives the all clear sign for them to start setting up camp.

Raido, with his hair plastered to his scarred face, reenters the shelter, and nods his head. Yamato gives a sigh of relief.

"Alright, team. Go ahead and get some shut eye. I'll take the first watch."

"Can we set up a fire?" the youngest member, Akira, asks as he swipes his drenched blonde hair from his face.

"Negative," replies Genma as he rolls out his sleeping bag. "In a storm like this, the light of a fire will attract too much attention. Just brave the cold, kid. You're a jonin now."

From his corner of the cave, Raido nods in agreement, one hand absently tracing the scar along his face before drifting off to sleep. Genma is the next to surrender to exhaustion. He curls up like a child in his sleeping bag, trying to practically extract all the warmth from his body as he possibly can to warm up his core. Meanwhile, Akira lays awake, staring at the roof of the cave. Yamato looks over at him from his post near the entrance.

"Get some sleep, Akira. We're moving out as soon as the storm passes." There's another crack of lightning, illuminating Yamato's face as he worriedly watches Akira shiver and sweat in his sleeping bag before giving in and succumbing to sleep.

The last thing Yamato needs is somebody getting too sick to move.

Thunder rolls and another round of lightning splinters the sky. The captain removes his faceguard, his wet hair flopping down onto his forehead. He rubs his face tiredly as he leans against the cold wall of the cave, digging around in the pocket of his flak jacket. His trembling cold fingers pull out a picture that's a little wet along the edges. He gives a half-hearted smile.

Yamato has Naruto, Sai, and Sakura all crushed together in his two arms. Naruto makes a pained face as he's squashed between his two teammates while Sai just looks uncomfortably at the camera, not sure what to do with his hands.

The Captain runs a soft thumb along the edge of Sakura's frame in the picture. She's holding onto his hand draped over her shoulder, the one that's trapping her into this silly embrace. Her pretty face looks up at him while he grins at the camera. She seems so utterly happy it makes Yamato's stomach churn in the best of ways.

Maybe he's just too hopeful but Yamato thinks that Sakura is looking at him with eyes that say more than what the picture is revealing. Just maybe, Sakura is looking at him the way that he looks at her when she's curled up next to him in the middle of the night.

What Yamato would give to be at home in bed with her instead of waiting out this vicious storm.

The jonin gives her one more glance before tucking the picture back into the privacy of his flak jacket. He sighs and leans his head back against the cold cave wall, wishing for the rain to stop.

"I'll be home soon, Sakura."

* * *

Pakkun the ninken watches his master pace back and forth in front of his closet from the couch. The rest of Kakashi's hounds lay about in the living room, napping.

The copy ninja looks disheveled indeed. He wears only his dark navy blue lounging pants and the tight sleeveless undershirt, his mask as always hiding away the true nature of Kakashi's face. But he keeps tugging at it, running his hands through his already messy hair as he mumbles nervously to himself.

He wants to tear the mask away. He feels like he can't breathe.

"Look, Kakashi, this kind of agitation is not becoming of you…" says Pakkun slowly, licking his front paw absently. The silver haired ninja turns and almost glares at the dog. "I'm just saying, you're pacing like a nervous wreck. Cut it out."

"Who's nervous?" Kakashi says as he pulls on a white tshirt. "I'm not nervous." He decides against this choice and peels it right off again, tossing it aside. Pakkun watches the article of clothing slip to the floor. He looks between it and Kakashi curiously.

The copy ninja was never one for mess.

"Just put on your jonin uniform and be done with it. Why do you need street clothes anyway?" Pakkun asks in his deep rolling voice, putting his pug face down onto his paws. The ninja holds a navy blue shirt up to his chest and then tosses it over his shoulder. Pakkun is now wearing the shirt instead. The dog shakes his head and kicks the thing down onto the floor, eyes still following Kakashi as he paces across the room "You don't have a date or something, do you?"

Kakashi freezes in his tracks. His shoulders tense up and he looks at Pakkun over his with a wide gray eye. The ninja pretends to relax, rubbing the back of his neck casually.

"Me? A date? Come on, Pakkun. You know I don't have time for things like that."

To the dismay of the ninken, his question has only furthered Kakashi's anxiety. The man starts hurriedly gathering his jonin uniform, rambling about how silly it would be for Kakashi to try and date someone because shinobi were horrible relationship partners to anyone but another shinobi and Kakashi has no interest in dating any of his co-workers—not that any of his co-workers wanted to date him. Not that he knew of. No, not at all.

Kakashi hops around on one leg as he slips into the dark shinobi pants. He tugs the long sleeve uniform shirt on quickly, throwing on the green flak jacket. The ninja gives a strange half-hearted grin to Pakkun before backing out of the room slowly, still rambling as he gives the dog a little two finger salute.

"I'll see you later. Don't let the boys scratch up the furniture, okay? You guys know where the dog food is. Help yourselves. Don't wait up. I mean—not that I would be out anywhere late, I'm just-okay, see ya."

And with that, Kakashi grabs his headband off the kitchen table strolls out the door, placing his forehead protector over his sharingan eye where it belongs.

Pakkun stares at the empty space where Kakashi had been previously standing. The dog shrugs and buries his head against his paws, ready for a nap.

"Well," he thinks out loud as he drifts to sleep, "That was strange."

* * *

Sakura and Kakashi had to postpone the collection of her winnings due to Kakashi being sent off on a short mission that kept him out of the village for three days. And then yesterday, there was a terrible rainstorm that hit Konoha, forcing mostly everybody to stay inside. Lady Tsunade told her that it was the mere coattails of a much stronger hurricane brewing off the coast.

Finally, Kakashi was able to pay up and take her out for dinner tonight. Sakura smirks at the fact that she hustled her sensei into paying the bill for once as she sits at her dresser, applying the tiniest hint of blush to her cheeks and black mascara to her eyelashes. Yamato always complained that she didn't need it and that it would just come off later all over his bed sheets. Which was true. But Sakura liked wearing makeup sometimes. It made her feel like an actual woman and not just another shinobi soldier.

As Sakura puts the blush back into her drawer, she gazes down at a black little tube of lipstick rolling around inside. She ponders it for a moment.

Her shift at the hospital had finished early today. She already squeezed in her daily workout and training session. The pink haired ninja didn't have much else to do tonight but go to dinner with Kakashi.

_Oh, why the hell not?_

Lady Tsunade has always said that a little lipstick can never hurt. She stares into the mirror and applies the darker shade of pink onto her lips. Happy with the result, she smacks them together and gets up from her seat. Tired of wearing of her ninja gear for the day, she unties her headband and lays it carefully on the bed. Sakura undresses, laying out her clothes neatly before slipping into a pair of white shorts. She zips up one of her usual red sleeveless tops with the Haruno family symbol on the back and without looking twice in the mirror, she heads down the stairs.

"Sakura-chan, I made dinner. It should be ready in ten mi—" Mebuki starts, turning her head over her shoulder to watch a lipstick wearing Sakura on her way out the door. "Where are you going, young lady?"

"Out, Mom," she replies with a sigh.

"Say hello to Shikamaru for me, darling!"

Mebuki listens to the door shutting and Sakura's annoyed little shriek from outside the window. The Haruno matriarch simply smirks and congratulates herself on setting her daughter up with such a fine young man.

Sakura, however, is not so amused. She mumbles angrily about her mother playing matchmaker all the way to the restaurant. Why does her mom believe that Sakura is incapable of picking up men? And men of standard, at that. She's a shinobi—a damn good one too—smart, pretty, independent.

_I am more than capable of finding men to date on my own, Mom. It just so happens that he's my Team Captain and by shinobi standards, he's off limits—but hey, whatever, the point being, mother, you should be proud that I am good enough to land a man like Yama—_

"Yo," says Kakashi smoothly, giving Sakura his famous two finger salute as he leans against the entrance to the restaurant. Sakura stops her internal ranting abruptly and smirks at her sensei.

"Ready to pay up?" she says lightly, putting a hand on her hip as she goes over to him. His one gray eye travels down the length of her body and Sakura's snarky little smile fades. A foreign tingle runs up her spine and she looks away, pretending to watch a little boy cry over his dropped Popsicle.

"A deal is a deal," he says with a sigh. Rubbing the back of his head, he looks down at his jonin uniform and back to her casual street wear. But Kakashi is really just trying to make sure that he doesn't stare at her painted lips. Oh god. He never realize how full they—"I'm on duty tonight," he lies, motioning to his ninja gear, "Or else I would've dressed…nicer."

Sakura feels foolish as she snaps her gaze back to his cautious eye. Of course he wasn't looking at her like that. It's Kakashi sensei. How silly.

"Oh it's alright, sensei. Besides," she says as she enters the restaurant, the smell of food now too appealing to resist, "I didn't expect anything different from you."

He watches her go inside and has to try very hard not to facepalm himself once she's out of sight. "You make me sound so uninteresting, Sakura."

He gathers his composure and follows her in. The two of them stake their claim at a table in the back and Kakashi is suddenly very nervous. He didn't get to pick the restaurant but this place was dimly lit with candles and fresh flowers on the table. Cute little tea lights have been hung over the windows and there's the calming sound of a bamboo fountain nearby.

Kakashi's palms are sweating underneath his gloves.

But he plays it off, casually flipping open the menu to skim it and his heart nearly stops. This is _nice _food at a not-so-nice price.

Oh my god. This is a date.

"Sakura, I'm severely underdressed here," he says quietly, leaning further across the table so she can hear. The kunoichi lowers the menu from in front of her face and Kakashi pulls back instantly.

Too close, absolutely too close to those shocking green eyes.

The pink haired ninja waves her hand dismissively at the subject, biting her lip in concentration as she keeps reading over the menu. "Don't even worry about it, you're a shinobi. Everyone can tell you're on duty. Stop making a big deal about it."

The copy ninja settles back into his chair, unable to shake this uncontrollable anxiety around Sakura, and clears his throat. The two of them look over their meal options in a comfortable silence. Well, at least Sakura thinks so. Kakashi is using all his might to not twist around in his seat like a child.

He's fucking Kakashi Hatake. He doesn't squirm or get nervous around women. But here he is, his eyes anxiously flitting from Sakura and her lips to the unreadable menu in front of him. The characters are starting to blur together.

"What're you getting?" she asks casually, looking up to meet his eye. Kakashi clears his throat again and slouches a little, rubbing his chin in faux concentration. Hopefully he plays it off.

"I don't know," he mumbles coolly, "what're you gonna get?"

She taps a finger to her chin and Kakashi watches her over the top of his menu. How has he never noticed that Sakura no longer has the round cheeked face of a child? Her cheeks curve at an angle now, giving her delicate chin a grown up point. And her eyes have become less big and doe looking;sharper, more intelligent and in the best and worst ways, electrifying.

Kakashi can't breathe under his mask again.

"I'm probably going to order the Katsudon. Looks yummy."

"Yeah, the Tempura Udon looks good. I'll get that," he concludes casually. Sakura closes her menu and folds her hands in front of her face, mirroring an act that Kakashi has seen Lady Tsunade perform countless times. He smiles a little at the gesture.

"So, am I finally gonna get to see your face when you eat? There's no way around it this time."

He visibly rolls his eyes.

"What is it with you guys wanting to see what's behind the mask?" He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest, waiting for an answer. Sakura is about to reply, rather pointedly, when the waitress comes by and asks for their order. Kakashi's illusion of aloofness is saved by the pink haired kunoichi when she takes it upon herself to order for the both of them.

"Is tea alright?" she asks, turning back to Kakashi who was watching her mouth move as she talked to the patient waitress.

"What? Oh," he clears his throat, "Tea is fine, yes."

The young woman bows to them both and Sakura turns back to Kakashi, once again trying to pressure him into just getting it over with and letting her see his face. He evades all her questions, in the smooth, nochalant way that only Kakashi can pull off, and Sakura eventually just throws her hands up.

"It doesn't matter, you're gonna have to take it off to eat. And I know you're not such a rude person that you would opt out of eating with company you have decided to pay for." She smirks and raises an eyebrow, thinking that she has him cornered. But Kakashi only smiles and leans back in his chair.

"Oh Sakura. You still have so much to learn."

The ninja is about to open her mouth to reply when the food arrives. Two steaming plates of delicious smelling cuisine are set down in front of them along with a kettle of tea. The waitress bows once again and leaves them to their meal. Both of them sit there, refusing to make the first move until the other does.

"Come on, sensei, just do it."

"No, no," he refuses, "Ladies first."

"The guest of honor first," she retorts, giving a dramatic wave of her hand and a bow to let him know that he has the primary prerogative to eat first.

"I'm paying. _You're _the guest of honor."

"Oh just take the mask off already, you—"

"Hey Kakashi! Sakura! What're you up to?" calls a voice from the door. Sakura turns around to see Izumo and Kotetsu standing there, waving over at their table. The two men look away from their peers to grab a few take out boxes and Kakashi grabs at his chance.

In the way that only Kakashi knows how to do, he slips down his mask as no one is looking, and slurps all of his food down until every bit of it is gone while Sakura is lost in conversation with the two chunin from across the room. Before she even begins to turn around, Kakashi is already setting down his chop sticks, mask placed perfectly back where it belongs, and feeling rather full.

"Kakashi owes me dinner after losing a bet. Hence why I picked such a nice place. Karma isn't kind to those who are greedy with mo—" She turns around to see that Kakashi has already finished his meal. Kotetsu and Izumo can only stand there as they join their table and snigger as while eyebrow twitches in annoyance. After years of working with Kakashi, the two men are used to unusual antics such as eating while no one else is looking.

"Did you really think you were going to win, Sakura? The man eats as fast as he can sprint."

Kakashi leans back in his chair again, satisfied and victorious. He flashes her a smug smile, signaled only by the look in his one eye, before glancing up at the visitors.

"On a food errand for the Hokage?" he asks curiously. Izumo and Kotetsu look down at their arms full of take-out boxes and nod, sadly.

"Yeahhhh," Kotetsu says, scratching at the bandage across his nose. "She's in a rather foul mood today. This is her go-to restaurant for such an occasion."

"We should be getting back to her now though. She's always rather vicious when she's hungry," mentions Izumo as he looks down at his watch.

Kakashi gives a chuckle and a lazy wave goodbye as the two men nod their head to Sakura and make their way to the exit. The jonin watches his peers go until his attention is drawn back to his dinner date who is angrily staring him down.

The copy ninja laughs. "Oh come on, Sakura. It's nothing to get upset over. Now eat your dinner before it gets cold," he says with a 'go on' motion of his hand. She makes a face and breaks her chopsticks apart to eat.

"Don't tell me what to do, old man."

"Okay, here we go again with the old man comments. Don't you have any other sassy things to say about me or is that all you can come up with?"

And the rest of the night goes like that. Sakura takes her time eating her food, sipping her tea every now and again while Kakashi lounges back in his chair, listening to her talk. She goes on about the hospital and the interesting accidents that come into the emergency room every now and again. Sakura talks about her time learning under Lady Tsunade and explains in detail how their incomparable strength is produced in the terms of chakra and limbs. She recounts a number of stories about her adventures with Naruto and her friends, either on missions or simply funny encounters here in the Village. The girl nearly spits out her tea when she mentions that when Naruto tried to ride Akamaru again yesterday, the ninja hound peed on him.

They laugh for hours and to his surprise, Kakashi doesn't spend all that time just listening. He tells Sakura about the time he had just come home from ANBU mission when a little blue eyed Naruto comes bursting out of the Academy followed by Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba, a very angry Third Hokage running after them. Sakura watches him, wide-eyed and dazed as he suddenly began to flood her with countless stories about strange things he has seen on missions in foreign lands. He explains in perfect detail the execution of chidori. Kakashi talks about the awe that he felt as he studied under the 4th Hokage on his genin team and just as he's about to launch into a story about how his old team once faced an outrageous enemy, a time of his life that Kakashi hardly ever speaks about, the waitress interrupts.

"My apologies but we're going to close soon. Here's your bill and we thank you for your business." She bows apologetically as she shuffles away, going back to the kitchen. Kakashi and Sakura look around, realizing that everyone else in the restaurant has been long gone. The kunoichi looks at the time and finds that it has been two hours since Sakura finished eating. She looks at Kakashi sheepishly.

"I talk too much, I'm sorry."

They both get up to leave and Kakashi digs through his wallet for bills to pay the check which he leaves on the table. The silver haired ninja waves her apology away dismissively and they head for the door, Kakashi rubbing the back of his head.

"Not at all. I did a fair amount of talking myself." He gives her a smile and they head out back into the streets of Konoha. There's still some light traffic of people milling about, mostly going in and out of bars. However, the shops and restaurants have closed and there's no children in sight, most of them already tucked into bed for the evening.

Typical Kakashi sensei, always losing track of time.

The two make their way to Sakura's house, deciding that Kakashi would walk her home. They spend a few comfortable moments of silence as they kick a stray rock back and forth between ach other. Kakashi can't help but watch the light of downtown Konoha shimmer in Sakura's eyes as she looks up at him.

"I feel kinda special, Kakashi sensei."

"Why's that?" he asks casually, having to look away from her or he'll start staring again.

Or at least, pretending to be casual as he shoves his hands into his pockets.

"I know things about you that neither Naruto nor Sasuke know. I remember when we used to sit around and wait for you as genin for you to stop being late and we would make up theories about what your life in the ANBU was like and if you could kill someone with just your thumb. Crazy things like that." She laughs but it's only half-heartedly. He can feel it too, the weight of Sasuke's name pressing down on his lungs. The wound is still fresh, the scar tissue not completely healed over.

Kakashi simply nods his head and keeps walking, not wanting to talk about Sasuke. It always leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

"Do you remember on the first day that we met you and you fell for that stupid eraser in the door trick?" Sakura says while laughing, holding her sides as she remembers his goofy, aloof reaction to the fact that he actually did nothing to dodge it.

Kakashi chuckles and looks up at the sky, remembering the first time he ever laid eyes on his team. "Yeah, I do. You three were very whiny and annoying back then."

He gets nudged in the ribs and a scowl from Sakura. The copy ninja gives another soft laugh and steals a glance at her again. She's staring up at the Hokage's office, watching the moon dance shadows across the faces of all their past leaders on the mountain side. He wonders what she's thinking about.

"Am I different, Kakashi sensei?" she asks curiously. The kunoichi glances up at him, seeing that he's already looking back at her, an expression in his one gray eye that she can't quite explain.

That tingle from earlier, that ghost of a feather touch down her spine, returns and Sakura shivers.

Kakashi desperately wants to say all the charming, lovely ways that she's different from the incessantly whiny, doe-eyed girl that she once was.

She holds her head up like Lady Tsunade herself. Her eyes are kind, open to the fact that universe spins on a wider axis without Sasuke Uchiha as the center.

The jonin wants to tell her that the old Sakura can't hold a candle to the woman he sees today.

But Kakashi is Kakashi Hatake. He does not so easily delve into things that are better off forgotten deep in his chest. He is distant, evasive. So the ninja simply shrugs and smiles over at Sakura.

"You're not as petulant as you used to be, no."

She gives him a punch in the arm and he laughs as he listens to her chatter on about how she is not that annoying little twig of a girl that used to fawn over Sasuke and the ground he walked on. And she speaks nothing but the truth.

"Well," he says as he comes to a slow halt in front of her house, "I hope you enjoyed your victory dinner. My wallet definitely didn't."

"I did. It was a rather sweet victory indeed," she says with a smirk, bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet with her hands clasped behind her back. "Thank you, sensei," she says now, more softly as she turns to go inside. "I had a nice time."

He plays it cool and gives a single nod, agreeing to her last statement without too much obvious enthusiasm. Sakura bats her emerald green eyes at him and Kakashi's left knee goes a little weak. "See you around then?" she asks as she approaches her door, still talking to him over her shoulder.

Kakashi is about to simply nod again like an idiot. But instead, his mouth reacts before his brain and he blurts out,

"Since Naruto is doing independent training right now and Lady Tsunade has been pretty busy lately, did you want to start individual training with me? I have the time and well, there's always room for improvement from a chunin." He rubs the back of his head, smiling at her. "I think you and I could both benefit from some more time on the field."

Sakura's hand freezes on the door knob and she looks at her sensei, his gray eye watching her carefully as he lazily slouches beneath the porch light of her house. The pink haired kunoichi smirks.

"Alright, you're on. We'll start tomorrow. But don't go whining to Lady Tsunade when I start beating you to a pulp. Goodnight, Kakashi se—"

"Oh and Sakura? One more thing."

She raises an eyebrow at him, wondering what else he could possibly have to say to her.

"You don't need to call me sensei anymore. I think you and Naruto are getting a little old for it, don't you think? See you around."

And with that, Kakashi presses his fingers together in a hand sign and _poof, _he disappears in a light cloud of smoke that leaves Sakura smiling at the place where he was just standing. She bites her lip, shaking her head as she's about to turn the door knob to go inside.

"I would be careful if I was you, Sakura," says a silky, quiet voice from the shadows of the shop across the street from the Haruno residence. Sakura immediately tenses up and whips around, the voice alerting as she tries to find its source.

Kurenai comes out into the streetlight, brushing her long dark waves from her eyes as she steps closer to Sakura. The kunoichi relaxes and gives the older shinobi a smile.

"Oh, Kurenai sensei, you startled me." She presses a hand to her rapidly beating heart and takes a deep breath. "I should be careful about what?"

The jonin, who looks like she just got back into town from a mission, adjusts the strap of her backpack and closes the gap between her and Sakura slowly and determinedly. Her usual kind eyes are stern and a little..accusing? Sakura looks at her superior, suddenly confused. She's about to stammer out another questions when Kurenai interrupts.

"Kakashi is a complex man, Sakura. He says one thing and there a million other meanings hidden behind the words." Kurenai looks over her once and turns to leave. Sakura watches her take a few steps down the road before the ninja turns and glances at the younger girl over her shoulder. "This is a wager you shouldn't be betting."

Before Sakura can even blink, Kurenai is gone, hopping from one rooftop to another, presumably on her way home to her son.

* * *

Sakura gets up to her room and strips off her clothes, climbing tiredly into bed. But she lays there, wide awake, and stares at the ceiling. Kurenai sensei's words play on repeat inside her head.

_Kakashi is a complex man, Sakura._

She thinks back to her night with him. They sat there in that restaurant and talked for nearly three hours. He said things and revealed things that Sakura wasn't sure she would ever hear from his own mouth. Kakashi has always been a very private person.

A very evasive person.

She turns over and stares out at the moon from her window, feeling Kakashi's single stormy eye watching her even when she closes her eyes. Sakura tucks the pillow between her legs as if it were another body wrapped up in her arms as she tries to drift off to sleep.

But then her stomach churns with guilt, her heart flopping down from her chest and into her insides where it doesn't belong. Her eyes fly open.

Sakura hasn't thought about Yamato, not once since she was with Kakashi today.

_This is a wager you shouldn't be betting._


	4. Chapter 4

Kakashi's stormy gray eye opens, slowly, as the pounding on his front door continues. He groans and sits up, even mores slowly, rubbing his face tiredly with his cold hand. The sharingan turns to the left and stares at the clock on his nightstand. It's barely 5 in the morning, the sky outside is only beginning to lighten with the oncoming promise of sunrise.

The copy ninja doesn't sleep much. But when he does, he hates to be interrupted.

"This better be good," he sighs as he throws his legs over the side of the bed. The incessant knocking continues. "Alright, alright, I'm coming!" he calls as he pulls on his shinobi undershirt, tugging his mask back up over his face as he makes his way to the door.

There's a second, only a split second, of panic that races up Kakashi's legs and burrows in his chest.

_Who died today?_

The thought is dark and morbid but it's a valid question. People usually only come knocking on Kakashi's door this early for one of three reasons; to come to bed with him, to summon him to Tsunade, or to break the news that another shinobi has fallen. The last option is possible. But today just doesn't feel like one of those days.

"Well it's about time, Kakashi, I've been standing here forever!"

A pink and red blur rushes past him and into his apartment before Kakashi can even say hello. He stares at the place where she was just standing, listening as she starts rummaging through his kitchen. The copy ninja smiles to himself.

"Oh yeah, sure, come right in, Sakura. It's not five o'clock in the morning or anything." He gives a yawn and a lazy stretch, his spine popping in several places. The kunoichi turns and gives a little glare that makes him rub the back of his head and his sigh. "I apologize. _Good morning, Sakura," _he says with forced enthusiasm.

She smiles and turns back around as she puts tea on. Kakashi is suddenly conscious of the mess that his silver hair is and tries to smooth it down in all the right places but to no avail. He hasn't even showered yet.

"I brought us pre-training breakfast," she says cheerfully, coming back to the kitchen table where he just took a seat. A brown paper bag sits on his old mahogany dining table and she digs through it.

"You didn't have to buy breakfast," says Kakashi sheepishly, scratching his forehead lightly as he watches her set down a hearty meal of rice with egg, fruit and toast in front of him. "I have food here."

With a quick little twirl, Sakura's over by his fridge and she opens it up to peer inside.

"Just as I suspected. Only beer and eggs."

The copy ninja blushes a little as she grins victoriously for catching him in a lie. But really, his cheeks are growing hot because this is all rather...nice of Sakura. He would dare even say domestic. Of course she's given him presents on his birthday, one is growing by the window right now, a bonsai tree that he named Kota. And she's patched him up countless times in the field but this? This is a whole new level.

The kunoichi sits across from him after pouring them both tea, having a breakfast meal similar to his but smaller and with more fruit than carbs, and looks over at Kakashi. She smiles and he has to look away for a moment or he'll start blushing again. He pretends to test the consistency of her eggs with the end of his chopsticks.

"Are these safe to eat? I mean, they're not like your famous food pills, are they? Because those were disgus—" His hand is slapped as he reaches for his tea and Kakashi laughs, pulling back and giving Sakura a smile now that he's regained his cool composure.

"Don't make me smash it all in your face because I will," she says warningly, beginning to eat. Kakashi sighs and leans back in his chair, watching her.

"What? Oh, that's right. You don't want me to see you without your mask on. Should I turn around?" she asks, pointing over her shoulder with a smirk on her face.

"No, I'm gonna eat. I was just admiring this thoughtful side of Sakura. Even though it is still nearly five in the morning and you've decided it's training time."

"The early bird catches the worm," she retorts in a sing song voice, popping some rice and egg into her mouth. Kakashi is still watching her though, one arm thrown casually over the back of the chair. Her cheeks are starting to get hot.

"Your breakfast is going to get cold if you keep staring at me like a cre—"

"Heyyy, it's Sakura guys!" calls a raspy voice from the living room. The pack of ninja hounds all skid to a stop in the doorway, wagging their tails. Pakkun gives her a wave and then suddenly, all the dogs have surrounded her chair and pester her for attention.

"Well hello," she says to them happily, petting their individual heads and listening to them jabber on about their adventures lately.

"Did you bring us something? You brought Kakashi food. So what about us?" asks Biscuit, the small tan dog with the sly personality. Sakura chuckles and nods, turning back to Kakashi to dig into the brown bag for the dog treats she bought.

Her jaw drops as she sees Kakashi cover the last few inches of his nose, his breakfast all but vanished. The kunoichi's eyebrow twitches.

"You have got to be _kidding _me."

Kakashi gives Sakura a smile, leaning back in his chair as he pats his full belly.

"You said it was getting cold."

Sakura simply sighs and starts handing out dog treats while Kakashi tips the bag towards him and peers inside. He feels bad. There's a box of dumplings in there, waiting for him.

He rubs the back of his head. "I'm sorry Sakura but I don't really like—"

"Sweets, I know. They're for Lady Tsunade." The dogs have finally scattered about the house, chewing on their bones while Sakura finishes her breakfast slowly. She grins at Kakashi over the top of her tea.

"Jeez Kakashi, my universe doesn't revolve around you."

* * *

The world spins furiously around Sakura, making her head pound until she thinks it'll drive her insane. Her breakfast threatens to come back up and the sun glares down on her like the wrath of God. Her eyes, burning from the sting of her own sweat, look up to meet Kakashi's from across the field.

Her vision blurs and for a second, just for a moment, he looks like Yamato.

She's about to pass out. The earth is reaching up to meet her and she races toward it.

"Whoa, easy there," says Kakashi.

Sakura falls onto his back after he transported beneath her, breaking her fall. The exhausted kunoichi collapses against his strong back and he stands, easily maneuvering her weight so that she's cradled in his arms now, his hands tucked behind her knees and her head laying against his chest.

Kakashi can't take his eyes off her as he carries her across the field.

He sets the girl down under the tree, leaning her back carefully against the trunk. Her pink hair is matted to her forehead with sweat and there's a scratch on her left cheek. Kakashi takes his thumb and wipes the dirt from her face gently. She stirs lightly.

"Sakura," he says softly. "Come on now, wake up." He sprinkles water onto his fingertips and flicks them at her face, sprinkling droplets onto her cheeks and eyelids. The kunoichi groans, opening her mint colored eyes.

She sees Yamato first, his voice calling her name sweetly. His strong hand reaches out to tuck her hair behind her ear. She shakes her head subconsciously, sending Yamato away so that his shape and face morph back to where it belongs.

Kakashi peers at her with a worried gray eye.

"Welcome back," he says with a smile, plopping down on the grass beside her. Leaves crunch beneath his weight and Sakura looks slowly up at the tree they're under, the colors of burnt orange, red and gold glimmering back at her as the sun filters through them. Her head still hurts.

"Can we take a break?" she asks in a raspy voice. Kakashi holds out a water jug and she takes it gratefully.

"We are taking a break."

As Sakura takes long gulps of water, she glances sideways at him and glares. The copy ninja laughs as he twirls a large crimson leaf between his fingers.

The ninja wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and leans her head against the trunk, sighing.

"It's been five days, Kakashi. I can't do it," she says ruefully. "I can't." The words are like acid in her mouth but she feels like they're the truth. That old genin doubt is starting to creep back into her head as she stares out at the craters and dust she's leaving behind on the field. "I'm not ready."

Kakashi sighs and crushes the red leaf in his hand. He watches the bits and pieces of it fall from his open palm before he peers out at the sun.

"It's nearly noon. We've been at it for almost six hours." This only discourages Sakura. Her head droops and she blushes. Her arms ache, her right foot has a shooting pain sensation travelling up her leg every time she puts weight on it. Kakashi watches her motivation start to slowly ebb away.

"You're right. I shouldn't have wasted my time. Tsunade obviously doesn't have you ready to advance yet." He kicks back, crossing one leg over the other. "I thought being around Naruto so much would do you some good but I'm not so sure. You don't have half the fighting spirit that he has."

Kakashi smirks lightly to himself, watching her from the corner of his eye. Her eyebrow twitches and the corner of her mouth turns down in a frown. Kakashi fakes a yawn and pretends like he's going to take a nap. The girl's hands tremble but they clench into tight fists.

He gets a light kick to the ankle. Kakashi opens his eye and sees her up on her feet once again, that fascinating fire gleaming in her eyes as she tightens the leather glove on her left hand.

"Get up. We still have work to do."

The copy ninja smirks and rises to his feet, dusting off his pants. The two of them go back to the middle of the training field to a spot with even ground. Sakura takes a deep breath and meditates with her eyes closed. Kakashi lifts up his headband and looks at her with the sharingan, waiting. He crosses his arms over his chest.

"Ready when you are."

Sakura's eyes fly open and she does a series of rapid hand signs. With all the fire and determination that she can muster, Sakura pulls back her fist as it intensifies with her specialized chakra. She gives a cry and sends her it flying into ground where the ground splits and cracks beneath them. Kakashi easily snakes over to stand opposite of her, the earth still shifting and breaking apart beneath his feet.

"Do it, Sakura!" he shouts.

"Earth Style: Broken Earth Shards!" She does one last hand sign to release the jutsu. Large pieces of her shattered ground lift up slowly from the earth, inch by inch. She keeps that hand sign planted in front of her face, concentrating hard. A bead of sweat trickles down the side of her forehead but she won't let go just yet. She holds that focus there, not willing to take her eyes off Kakashi as he waits for her attack.

The rocks have almost moved into complete aerial position. She takes a deep breath, her right arm starting to tremble.

"Easy, Sakura, hold them right there where you can see all of them at once. Keep it steady. Now try again. Concentrate your chakra on keeping them levitated and then attack," he calls out to her. His sharingan watches every flow and stutter of her chakra. She's almost got it. Kakashi counts the seconds.

"Now, Sakura!"

She releases the hand sign and races towards the first boulder in sight. But before she can even touch it, it plummets to the ground. The rest of the rock formations follow. Sakura takes a shaky breath after the release of her chakra fades and all that remains is her exhausted body. She doesn't have much juice left to keep trying.

The pink haired kunoichi puts her hand on her knees and pants, sweat licking its way down the side of her neck. Kakashi makes his way towards her. She throws her hands up in the air, frustrated.

"I know, I know, I'm not concentrating hard enough. Save the lecture for later," she mumbles angrily. Sakura puts her hands on her hips and watches sky. It's darkening to the west. Another storm is coming tonight.

Kakashi approaches her coolly and grabs her by the shoulders. She blushes at the sudden physical contact but then he turns her away from him. He stands behind her and says softly in her ear, "I watched with the sharingan and I figured it out. Take your stance."

His breath tickles Sakura's ear and a shiver goes up her spine. The warmth of it spreads through her cheeks like a wildfire. She spreads her feet apart and takes her attack stance. Kakashi places an arm around her waist from behind, his hand splayed across her slim stomach gently.

Sakura's breath hitches in her throat.

"You start off well. You focus your chakra in your core and then shoot it into your right hand to penetrate the ground." His free arm comes around and takes a hold of her wrist. He pulls her arm back gently, the way that she would when she's about to bring her fist down.

Kakashi's body pushes and pulls her own like a mirror until he mimics what he saw with his sharingan. They reflect each other almost perfectly.

"As of now, your chakra is focused in your core and in your hand. But what you need to do," he begins, "is travel your concentration upwards. Imagine that your chakra is rising at the same speed and height as the boulders." His hand on her lower stomach moves upward over the plane of her belly, barely even touching her, and he places it on the center of her clavicle. He can feel her heart pounding where the skin of his fingertips brushes over the skin of her collarbone. Sakura's breathing speeds up and Kakashi pretends not to notice.

But only because his own heart feels like it's going to come smashing through his ribcage.

"You'll spend less energy trying to levitate them if they're in line with your chakra. Think of it as having invisible tethers between you and the rocks. It'll be easier so that when you release them, you'll have that image in your mind to keep them in the air."

Kakashi wants so badly to wrap both arms around her and bury his nose in her hair. But he controls himself, knowing that Sakura would push him away or call him a pervert. She was probably uncomfortable with the touching right about now anyway.

His hands drop back to his side instantly and Sakura's shoulders slump. He thinks out of relief. But in reality, they hunched out of the loss of his skin on hers.

"Lets give it one more try." Kakashi makes his way over to the opposite end of the field and waits, his sharingan open and ready, one hand on his hip.

Sakura watches him go, trying to steady her breathing. There's a profound absence where his hand had been resting across her ribs. It nearly makes Sakura reach up and check that there's not a hole there somewhere. Her skin craves the warmth of his body and the thought pains Sakura.

_This is madness. I'm just exhausted_, she tries to reason with herself.

"It's going to work this time," Kakashi calls out to her. "I know you can do it."

His voice snaps her back into reality and Sakura responds, taking her stance. She begins the process all over again.

She closes her eyes, meditating for a moment. Maybe two. And then the hand signs start flying.

Her heart races with the rush of chakra building up in her like a tidal wave. She flexes her hand and it glows with her energy. The fist meets the grounds with a loud cry. Earth splinters and breaks beneath her. Sakura holds the last sequence of the hand sign in front of her face.

Remembering Kakashi's touch up her body, she imagines that her chakra is following his progress, trying to grab onto his hand and keep it from leaving.

The rocks levitate into the air easily as Sakura imagines the strings tying her and the boulders together as one.

One moment passes by. Two. Thr—

"Now!" shouts Kakashi.

"Earth Style: Broken Earth Shards!"

Sakura gives a battle cry and releases the hand sign. The rocks stay in the air. Her fist comes flying back and crashes into the first one she sees, sending it smashing its way to Kakashi. If he allowed the rock to collide with him, he would be sent flying across the field, several bones probably crushed with the speed of the rock hurtling towards.

But of course he cuts it with the lightning blade. Sakura gives a mixture of taijutsu, kicking and throwing the remaining aerial boulders to Kakashi until he's dodging and sprinting around them. The last one is sent his way and Kakashi has barely a second to get around it.

He flips over the boulder to evade being smashed by it and when he touches the ground again, he actually wipes some sweat from his brow. The copy ninja pulls the headband over his sharingan and makes his way towards Sakura who's doing a victory dance, punching the air and jumping around happily. But by the time he gets to where she is, the kunoichi is exhausted and she sits down on the ground. Kakashi plops down beside her, their backs up against each other's, and they breathe.

"Congratulations, Sakura. You just perfected your very own jutsu."

She laughs, relieved and excited all at the same time. Kakashi falls to the side and tries to wait out a stitch that had formed in his side from all that running. Sakura follows suit, laying her head against his stomach as she catches her breath, and they stare up at the storm darkening the west together. He waits a few minutes, enjoying the feel of her so close to him before he attempts to get up.

The copy ninja leans back on his elbows and smiles when the girl doesn't respond to his movements.

Sakura had curled up right there on the training field, one hand clenched at his flak jacket, and went right to sleep. Kakashi watches her fist curl tighter into his jonin vest when he tries to get up once again and he chuckles.

Not wanting to wake her up so soon, knowing that her body needed a short period to recover some energy, Kakashi lays back onto the grass and tucks his hands behind his head. He would wait until she came around or when it gets too late, whichever comes first.

Kakashi suddenly feels a longing deep down in his chest that drops his heart into his stomach as he reaches down and gently smooths some of her pink hair away from her eyes.

He feels like he's been waiting for Sakura to wake up for a very long time.

* * *

Sakura runs up the stairs to the Hokage's office. She can't wait to tell Lady Tsunade what she accomplished today. Her very own jutsu.

_Watch out, Naruto. I'm catching up to you, inch by inch._

The kunoichi smirks as she sidesteps Izumo and Kotetsu coming down the stairs with towers of boxes. They open their mouths to say hello but Sakura cuts right past them.

"Sorry boys, gotta run!"

"Tell Kakashi that he needs to stop by sometime!" Kotetsu shouts at her over his shoulder, still trying to keep the boxes steady in his hands.

Sakura gives a wave. "Will do!"

His name alone sends her pulse into a frenzy. Today was different. There was a new level of companionship between the two of them today. But Sakura knows that "companionship" isn't the right word.

The way he touched her, guided her through the motions of her chakra distribution was innocent, a common ninja teaching method. She sees other senseis do the same with their younger genin, illustrating in a visual way how chakra is supposed to flow and burst.

But it meant something more to Sakura. His hand pressed to her body and it reacted to him. A fire stirred deep in her belly as his hand came down over her heart and although Sakura does not want to admit it, she wanted Kakashi to pull her into him and hold her when she felt weak.

Sakura suddenly shakes her head, turning the corner and heading down the corridor to Lady Tsunade's office. Those kinds of thoughts are silly, meaningless. Maybe Sakura is attracted to Kakashi. But most women are. It's the cool and casual, yet kind, demeanor that he carries himself with. And the silver bedhead. The strong arms and hands. His alluring, intricate single gray eye that looks like both the eye of a storm and a welcome home. It's the curve of his back and—

_Oh god, Sakura, get a grip. Seriously_, she chides herself. _Like Kakashi would want anything to do with you. _

Sakura is just outside of the Hokage's office when she hears Lady Tsunade's voice rise at Shizune. Instinctively, Sakura stays back and keeps out of sight, waiting for her Hokage to be done with whatever she needed to say. The door was open, allowing Sakura to hear bits and pieces of the heated conversation.

But she wishes the door had remained shut. Her heart plummets into her insides and Sakura suddenly feels sick.

"I have faith in Yamato and you should too, Shizune!"

"With all due respect, ma'am, I do. But him and his team have not sent us a report in three days. I think now is the time to be worried."

There's a long silence. Sakura wants to look in and see what's going on but she'll be spotted.

Yamato's name stick to the roof of her mouth and it makes her head swim. He's been gone for nearly a week and a half but Sakura has tried not to dwell on it, choosing Kakashi and his intense training as the ultimate distraction.

There's a twinge of guilt there when Sakura thinks about both Yamato and Kakashi in the same thought. She doesn't want to understand why.

"This isn't about Yamato. This is about Sakura, isn't it?" asks the Hokage.

Her ears perk and sharpen their hearing. The kunoichi gives her full attention to their conversation now, the sound of her name like a bad omen.

Shizune sighs. Sakura knows her well enough by now to guess that Tsunade's assistant is nervously looking at the floor, clutching Ton Ton in her arms. Should Sakura be angry? Concerned about the fact that the safety of Yamato and his team somehow ties back to her?

"His judgment is clouded, m'lady. He's dating his teammate. And not as a peer but as the captain. It's unethical and poor taste in leadership, in my opinion. He can't be trusted to do what's right for his team here at home, how can he be trusted to lead one out there in the field?"

Sakura's cheeks burn with anger. She makes Yamato sound like a love sick, demented puppy because he chooses to come home to Sakura at night. Their relationship has nothing to do with Yamato's ability as a shinobi and as a captain.

The ninja clenches her fist and wishes she could say something to Shizune. Her words feel like a slap in the face. Not against Yamato but against her. She's acting like Sakura is a poison that needs to be sucked out from Yamato's life or she'll ruin his career.

Those words, coming from the mouth of a friend, have a stronger bite than Sakura expected.

_Maybe because there's some truth in it._

"Shizune…" The Hokage sighs. Her chair squeaks a little as she leans back into it. "Yamato is one of our best shinobi. And although I can't help but disapprove of his relationship with Sakura for the time being, I don't think that it has anything to do with his abilities as a ninja. He is a fine shinobi and an excellent leader. Who he decides to spend his time with when he's off duty and in his own home is none of our business. He's a grown man, he can take care of himself. So who are you really trying to protect? Yamato? Or Sakura?"

The pink haired kunoichi bites her lip. She's confused. Her head feels all jumbled up as thoughts start to trip over one another. She can feel Yamato's hand against her cheek and his lips on hers. She can smell the sandalwood scent of his skin and the way he holds her in the middle of the night.

But Kakashi's face is there too. His stormy gray eye watching her even when she closes her eyes.

It makes her hurt.

"Should we tell her? Sakura, I mean," Shizune asks. "This is the fourth day without any word from him. I can assemble a search team in an hour."

Sakura feels even worse now. While she's been off training with Kakashi, for these past few days, Yamato's whereabouts have fallen off the grid. Her stomach is sick with worry now.

"No. We don't tell her. And let's give Yamato a little bit more time. If they were in danger or in need of help, we would know. Have some faith in him Shizune."

Sakura can't take it anymore. She inches away from the door and when she's far enough, she sprints.

_I'll be home soon, Sakura, he says in her memory, pressing a kiss to her forehead before he turns to leave. His thumb traces her cheekbone and he turns to go, his helmet tucked under his arm. Sakura remembers thinking that he looks like a soldier, heading out to war. _

The thought makes Sakura want to throw up. Her mother was right. She wasn't capable of being with a civilian.

But being with a shinobi is a different, intense kind of pain that Sakura isn't she sure she can stomach today.

The Hokage watches her pink haired apprentice run from the building and back home. And without knowing for sure, Tsunade is almost certain that Sakura had heard their conversation. She leans her head against the window and sighs, a weary eye now on the storm coming in from the west.

"Yamato will come home, Shizune. Because now he has someone to come home to."

* * *

"Genma, move!"

Yamato shoves his second in command out of the way of a lightning strike. It hits the Captain in his right shoulder instead.

The earth rushes up to meet him, his wrist twisting uncomfortably beneath his weight. Yamato's body spasms and writhes as the electricity curls up into his bones. The shinobi grits his teeth and waits it out, praying on his men to cover him while he's down.

God, the pain. The pain is nearly unbearable.

There's the all too familiar sound of kunai against kunai. The crack of lightning and the flap of Raido's black crows to cover the tracks of his poisoned blade, Kokuto. Yamato can smell the burn and smoke of Akira's fire jutsu. There's cries of battle all around him, the smell of dark and dangerous chakra assaulting his nose until Yamato's eyes water. He can't move yet. He can't see.

The enemy is wearing them all down to the point of irreversible exhaustion. Yamato and his team are almost entirely out of chakra.

His muscles finally stop pulsating painfully with shock waves. There's a deep, unprecedented ache in his limbs as he tries to stand, eyes bloodshot and full of smoke. He rises to his feet, knees weak beneath his weight, and stumbles his way upright. He tries to assess the situation and is immediately stopped dead in the middle of his hand signs.

Genma has been captured.

He sits in the middle of a chakra cage, each side marked with one of the characters for the five elements of chakra, including the top. By the looks of it, Yamato assesses, all of his comrade's chakra is being drained from his body, feeding that energy into his own trap.

"If I let go and allow the Chakra Cage to feast on your partner at will, he'll be drained of his very life force in a matter seconds." The leader of their enemy pack, tall and menacing with sharp eyes and jet black hair to his waist, keeps his hand bound to the electricity side of the chamber. With a smirk, he sends a wave of lightning into the cage, shocking Genma for seconds at a time.

The leaf shinobi grunts and writhes on the ground, his body seizing in agony as his captor rotates the chamber around Genma. His hand now rests on the water side. The enemy fills the cage with water until Genma is drowning in it, unable to perform any kind of jutsu to escape without his chakra.

"Surrender," the leader calls out to Yamato. Genma can't hold his breath for much longer. "Surrender or I will kill your partner in a matter of moments."

Yamato grits his teeth. Genma, who's on the verge of passing out, shakes his head. The captain's stomach lurches.

He has to make a choice. His partner or the mission. Their captivity or Genma's life.

The captured shinobi slams his hand against the barrier and points at Yamato. Even though he can't speak, the cage now entirely filled up with water, he stares down his captain and shakes his head.

He's a shinobi. He knows what he must do for the Land of Fire. His eyes are already starting to say goodbye.

Yamato is ANBU. He is a soldier of the leaf. He knows the law; Mission above all. The Land of Fire above all. The Hokage is his king and the village his kingdom. Yamato has a responsibility to uphold his duty as a shinobi, even if it costs his life or the life of those around him. The captain prepares to make a series of hand signs, pleading with the sky to give him this victory. Genma's life hangs in the balance of those who win and those who die. And that's a gamble that he's willing to take.

But Sakura's green eyes flash before Yamato's face and he can't bring himself to do it. He can't bear to tell her that he left Genma to die. Nor can he face his family knowing that he chose the mission over his comrade.

The Land of Fire _would_ see all of them back, alive. Yamato just needed time to think.

This just isn't the way to go.

He throws down his weapons and holds his hands up in the air. Genma slams the barrier again in anger. The enemy leader lets the water slowly drain from the cage. But not without shocking Genma once more.

The shinobi rolls onto his back and howls, the water intensifying the shock of the attack. He coughs, spitting out water, lungs on fire as the rest of his body is set ablaze. Yamato closes his eyes, trying not to watch but he can't close his ears.

Genma's cries reverberate through his entire being.

"Raido, Akira. Surrender your weapons," he orders. The two other shinobi do so, following their orders. The enemy leader instructs them to get on their knees and put their hands behind their heads.

The soldiers of the leaf submit themselves, gritting their teeth and staring straight ahead. If they were going to be taken captive, they would do so with honor. Yamato can only pray that they don't just kill them all now. They need the leaf shinobi for information. And Yamato has what they want.

"Search them."

Hands start tearing off the shinobi's weapons. They take everything they can, even their headbands. Raido struggles when they try to take his off, threatening to tear them to pieces if they touch it. A soldier of the enemy comes and smacks him around, stomping on his ankle until it breaks. Raido falls forward in pain, groaning at the hot agony crawling up his right leg. Akira suffers far worse than his teammate. Yamato tries not to turn around and look as Akira screams.

One of the leader's henchmen kicks Yamato in the stomach and he doubles over, coughing and wheezing. The enemy removes his flak jacket and starts digging around in the pockets. He pulls out the picture of Team Kakashi and says something vulgar about Sakura and what he would like to do to the pretty face of a shinobi like that.

"Give it back," Yamato commands.

The foreign shinobi laughs and whispers terrible things about what he would do after tying Sakura up and forcing himself on her. Yamato's eyes narrow and his heart beats erratically in his chest. His imagination can't help but picture this disgusting monster of a man hovering over Sakura's body in Yamato's bed. He can hear her screams in his mind.

He won't have it.

"I said give it to me or I will beat the living shit out of you," Yamato threatens, his almond shaped eyes cold and unwavering as he stares up into the enemy's grotesque face.

"Yamato, stop," Genma pleads in a groan, watching his captain from the floor of his cage.

"You should listen to your friend." A huge rock like fist comes and knocks Yamato aside with a single blow. He's sent flying into a tree, his faceguard slipping off his head and clattering to the ground a few feet away from him.

Blood trickles down the side of Yamato's face and his left shoulder is dislocated. But the henchmen isn't finished with him yet. He grabs Yamato by his hair and drags him out into the center of the battlefield so that all his teammates can watch and do nothing.

Yamato stares up at the man as he comes bearing down on him with fists that could rival that of the Hokage. Bones break and shatter. Yamato spits out blood and his lungs feel as if they're going to collapse. BAM, his jaw is shattered. Yamato's hands dig into the ground beneath him, refusing to show any sign of weakness or pain.

He imagines he's back home with Sakura.

_She's cooking him dinner, prancing around his house in nothing but one of his shinobi shirts. Her green eyes look at him from over her shoulder and she smiles at him. Yamato goes and wraps his arms around her small body, kissing down her neck as she laughs. _

"_I love you," he whispers against her shoulder. _

"Kido, that's enough." The leader holds up his hand and motions for his thug to stop beating Yamato. The captain rolls over onto his side and pukes. Agony covers his entire body like a blanket. He can feel every cell on fire yet he can't feel anything at the same time. He's gone into shock.

They haul him up to his feet along with Raido and Akira. Genma watches from his cage, screaming something at Yamato but he can't hear very well. His reactions are slow, sensing the presence of something rushing towards the side of his face.

But he can't force his body to move. He doesn't even want to move.

A final fist comes blaring into Yamato's skull They do the same to all of the other leaf shinobi until they collapse back onto the ground, blacking out beneath the gray sky.

Yamato sees stars and he watches the rain begin to trickle down from the clouds. He enjoys the cool feel of water on his battered skin.

The world starts to spin and it's getting harder to keep his eyes open. Someone talks but it sounds like they're underwater. His heart rate slows and Yamato begins to slip into a deep, cold sleep.

Someone picks him up and roughly throws Yamato over their shoulder.

"Sakura…" he moans quietly to himself. Yamato passes out.

_I love you._


	5. Chapter 5

Sakura stands at a grave.

Behind her, the Hidden Leaf Village perishes in fire and ash.

The ninja looks down at her hands and they are soaked with blood. She tries to wipe it off but it's stuck to her skin, a crimson paint that just won't wash away.

"Sakura! Get out of here! Leave!"

The kunoichi looks up to see Naruto, in all his greatness, older and war torn, fighting from the head of a Great Toad. His blue eyes seek hers out from the sky. He's trying to say goodbye.

"Get out while you can, Sakura! Please, just leave!"

The Hokage creates his mighty Rasengan and sends it flying into the wreckage that used to be her home. All around her, shinobi fight and shinobi die.

"I can help, Naruto! Let me help!"

Her friend, her king, turns to tell her something. But he's run through with a sword of ice.

"No!" she wails. "Naruto, no!"

Sakura runs towards him. The Great Toad disappears in a cloud of smoke and the Hokage, nothing but a blur of yellow and white, plummets to the ground.

She has to catch him. She has to save him.

The kunoichi trips over the bodies of her comrades. And her friends.

Shikamaru's lifeless eyes stare up at her, his hand clutching Asuma's lighter, even in death.

Sakura cannot stop for him. Or for Ino, whose blonde hair is splattered with blood as she takes the shinobi she is fighting down with her. A still young and vibrant Konohamaru takes a kunai to the hand and is locked in a power struggle with the enemy. His right eye has been lost.

Akamaru howls up into the sky for the death of his master, Kiba's body mangled and torn in ways that makes Sakura's stomach lurch.

It doesn't matter. She will mourn for them when the time comes. But right now, she has to get to Naruto.

She's almost there, pushing her way through the battlefield. A shuriken flies near her and Sakura leans back, avoiding it. Not being fast enough, it digs into her cheek and leaves an open gash. But she keeps running.

Iruka sensei lays amongst the death, his cold fingers reaching out for his headband which has been knocked from his forehead. He wishes to die with the colors of the Land of Fire.

Almost there. Naruto is nearly to the ground and Sakura skids to a stop right beneath him. The Hokage crashes into her but Sakura holds on for dear life as they roll and tumble back onto the battlefield.

"Please don't be dead, please don't die on me!" she screams, tears running down her war stricken face. The ninja turns the body over and she freezes, a chill as cold as death slipping down her spine and filling her with dread.

Instead of Naruto, Yamato's almond shaped eyes stare back at her. His lungs are filling up with blood and with trembling hands, Sakura tries to perform medical ninjutsu to salvage what she can of his body. But she can't stop shaking. Her chakra control spins out of her ability and she can't hold the jutsu long enough to heal him.

His hand, his red stained hand has curled up into her hair, leaving blood streaks along her pink locks. She clutches at the front of his shirt.

"No, don't leave me!" she cries as his eyes start to flutter closed. "Don't you dare leave me!"

His hand falls from her hair and leaves a trail of blood across her cheek. Sakura holds his body to her, trying to find the scent of sandalwood on his skin, trying to sear that memory into her brain. But all she can smell is iron and dirt and lost time.

She looks up, trying to see if anyone is around to help her, and she catches the eye of a silver haired ninja.

_No. Not you. Anyone but you._

He watches her from the across the battlefield, his sharingan eye trained on her, completely fixated. He is enraged, he is trapped in grief.

His one gray orb looks at her sadly. He turns around, his right hand lighting up with the crackling blue electricity of his chidori, and he sprints into the battlefield.

Sakura gets up and runs. She runs harder than she has ever run before.

She has to stop him.

The faces of her beloved Leaf Village stare up at her with their cold, dead eyes and Sakura wants to cower. She wants to kick and cry and scream. But she also wants to annihilate every last enemy ninja that has invaded her home. And although she is not dead, they took her life.

And she wants it back.

"Kakashi!" she screams out. Sakura ducks as a ninja blade comes slashing towards her face. She dances around a fireball jutsu, barely making in time as the ends of her hair become charred. "Kakashi come back! You'll die out there!"

The smoke after an Earth style attack clears. He shoves the enemy off of his right hand, the chidori dying down to nothing but sparks. The copy ninja turns to face her, reaching out his hand for her to join him.

Dawn is breaking behind him. There are the last two Leaf shinobi standing on the corpses of their friends. He shakes his hand, desperate for her to make her choice.

But Sakura is too late.

She stares in horror as Kakashi is engulfed by flames.

Sakura watches Kakashi burn, his sharingan eye still fixed on her as he cries out in agony.

She can smell the scent of his charring flesh.

* * *

"KAKASHI!"

Sakura bolts upright in bed and instead of staring at a burning silver haired ninja on the battlefield, she stares at her Team 7 picture on the dresser.

Dawn has broken. She pants, her tshirt sticking to her back with sweat.

"Only a dream." She falls backwards onto the twisted sheets and wipes the wetness from her cheeks. She had cried for him. "It was only a dream."

"Sakura?" calls Mebuki from the foot of the stairs. She heard her daughter scream and was concerned. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," rasps Sakura. She clears her throat and tries again, still smearing the last few stray tears from her eyes. "Yeah! I'm fine, Mom."

The kunoichi watches her ceiling fan spin. She still feels the gnawing dread of her nightmare eating away at her insides. Sakura swears she can still smell the fire and ash that had consumed the Village.

And when she closes her eyes, she can hear Kakashi's screams.

The thought makes her ache. She turns over onto her side and clutches her pillow between her legs, wrapping her arms around it. His sharingan stares back at her as she watches the sun rise over Konoha.

She had left the window open last night so she can hear the villagers start coming to life. Her keen hearing picks up the yawning voice of Shikamaru. He was probably just summoned by Tsunade. The boy hates early mornings.

But the dream keeps coming back to her.

_Shikamaru's cold, emotionless eyes stare up at her as she steps over him. All the intelligence and fire gone from his body. His fingers clutch at Asuma's lighter, probably praying that he will see his sensei again in death. _

Sakura shivers violently and gets up. Mornings are better off not spent dwelling on nightmares. And yet, as the pink haired ninja gets dressed in her gear, she can't help but think that the dream will follow her around for the rest of the day.

Death has always been a haunting creature.

* * *

"I need clamps!"

_There's blood everywhere. I can't stop it. _

_ "_Godammit, I need clamps NOW!"

The operating room is a mess. There is three different patients on three different tables. Sakura has her hands deep in the chest cavity of a young genin. His life is beginning to fade right from underneath Sakura's hands. She can feel it slipping from her fingertips.

"No," she says through her teeth, one hand performing medical ninjutsu while the other tries to sew the damage in his organs back up, "Don't you die on me, kid. Come on, pull through!"

Sakura can hear Shizune struggling to keep her shinobi alive as well. Lady Tsunade handles the third completely on her own. It's turned into a race against time.

This kid has barely sprinted from the starting line of his life as a shinobi. And already, death looms over him.

"What happened?!" demands Tsunade, her hands aglow with her powerful ninjutsu. A shinobi nurse whose job is to hand Sakura and Shizune operating tools speaks up.

"It was a simple C ranked escort mission. But then their team captain," the jonin under Shizune's care, "was ambushed by high ranking rogue ninja from the Bingo book. Vengeance was apparently the motive. His poor genin never stood a chance."

"Shut up!" Sakura shouts, getting distracted by the harsh reality of the nurses' words. These things happen far too often. It happened to her very own team against Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist, and his apprentice Haku. It could happen to anybody.

But not everybody has Kakashi of the Sharingan as their team leader.

Tsunade clears her patient to be wheeled from surgery to intensive care. Shizune and Sakura still work diligently. The Hokage leaves to get the full report on the attack, putting her faith in Sakura to be able to pull this off on her own.

The kunoichi tries her hardest. His insides are torn to shreds, his heart held together by mere tissue matter.

_If I can just-wait. What the hell is that?_

The kid's entire arm begins to turn black. Sakura hovers her medical hand over the skin there and she curses.

"Get Tsunade back in here now! This kid has poison in his blood!"

She can't do two things at a time. She can't hold his body together and extract the poison. Something is bound to kill him first. Either his body will fall apart at the seams or his heart will stop beating. Sakura has to remind herself not to panic.

Shizune clears her patient, the jonin. He's on his way to recovery. She comes over to Sakura to try and lend a hand but one look at the boy and Shizune's eyes sadden.

Sakura's hands are covered in his blood, sweat dripping down the side of her face. The boy's heart is starting to slow.

"I can do this, Shizune," she says, looking up into the other woman's eyes. "I can do this."

"Sakura," Shizune says slowly, watching as the black of the poison starts to eat away at the boy's entire right side. His heart is eroding like acid and Sakura can't do anything about it. "Let him go. There's nothing else you can do for him."

"No, I can do this, Shizune!" Tears fill Sakura's eyes but she blinks them away and keeps trying. The poison has eaten through the walls of the kid's heart, leaving nothing but a mess of tissue and cells that pumps blood every few seconds.

Shizune grabs Sakura's hands and lifts them from the body of the boy whose heart monitor has just flatlined. The kunoichi and Shizune stare each other down, just breathing, the smell of iron and burnt flesh invading Sakura's nose even beneath her mask. She closes her eyes and swallows her tears.

"Time of death," she says to the nurse as she begins pulling off her gloves, "6:14 pm."

Sakura pries her hands away from Shizune's and she leaves the operating room. She can't breathe. The ninja takes down her mask and immediately goes to scrub out. She stands there at the sink and nearly scrubs her hands raw, trying to get the stench of the boy's blood off her hands.

"Miss Haruno?"

Sakura turns and sees a male medical ninja watching her from the door. She simply sighs and nods.

"I know. I will be right there."

Sakura finishes up and strips off her bloody scrubs, tossing them in the trash before she exits. She wipes the sweat from her brow and enters into the waiting room.

Ninja do not cry. Ninja do not show their emotions. They only get in the way of the task at hand.

An older couple rises to their feet and comes to meet Sakura when they see her leaving the operating wing. She bows to them, deeply, and already the woman begins to cry.

Ninja do not cry. Ninja do not show their emotions.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hashimoto, I am...deeply deeply sorry. But your son did not make it through surgery."

Sakura can't do this. She can't stand her and tell that boy's parents that they will have to bury their son. She blinks away the tears and clears her throat.

Ninja do not cry. Ninja do not show their emotions.

"He sustained an incredible amount of damage while out in the field. There was nothing more that I could do."

The mother buries her face in her hands, sobbing, and collapses to her knees in the middle of the waiting room. All eyes are on them and Sakura now and it takes all her strength just to keep a straight face. The husband can only stand there and stare at the floor, his lower lip trembling as he tries to deny what is being said to him.

"He died a shinobi. Your son died an honorable death. I am truly sorry. The Hokage would like to see you both as soon as you are able to discuss funeral arrangements. Please excuse me."

Sakura gives one last deep bow and walks away from the mourning parents. The father had sank down to his knees next to his wife and wrapped his arms around her. They stayed there and cried together.

The kunoichi goes to her desk at the front of the hospital and gathers her things. She can't stand another minute in this place.

"Tell Lady Tsunade," Sakura mumbles to the receptionist, "that I've gone home from the night. The report will be on her desk first thing tomorrow morning."

Without another word, Sakura turns and leaves. Once a safe enough distance from the hospital, she ducks into an alleyway and kicks over a trash can. It clatters to the ground, scaring some stray cats into running away while Sakura leans against the wall and buries her face in her hands.

She will not cry. She will not show weakness.

_He was just a boy. Just a child trying to play hero. _

The thought stings her eyes and she wipes them with the collar of her shirt and takes a deep breath, tilting her head back and looking up at the sky as it burns with sunset.

She wishes Kakashi was around.

Another sharp twinge in her gut. Sakura shouldn't wish for impossible things. He was out on a mission, he has been for the past five days.

_I just miss Yamato_, she reminds herself. Which she does. He's been gone for two weeks exactly. Kakashi provided an easy distraction from thinking about him. If she dwelled on his whereabouts, she would drown in worry. And Sakura is too busy for something such as that.

But even so.

Sakura thinks back to the dream she had this morning. She sees Kakashi's lone figure on a grim battlefield, engulfed in flames as he reaches his hand out to her.

_Sakura, he called. Sakura come with me. _

The kunoichi pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs.

Maybe getting close to Kakashi wasn't the best idea after all.

"Hey," calls a lazy voice at the mouth of the alley, "you look like you could use a drink."

Sakura opens her left eye to see none other than Shikamaru standing there, hands in his pocket, a half-assed smirk planted on his face.

"You buying?"

He considers this for a moment, giving Sakura's disheveled state a once over before sighing, his shoulders hunching. "Oh alright. But only because I feel generous today. Let's go."

He jerks his head towards the direction of his favorite restaurant and Sakura follows, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.

They walk in silence for a few moments, Shikamaru's hands still tucked lazily in his pockets while Sakura watches the ground.

"Yeah," he says knowingly with a sigh, "Me too, Sakura. Me too."

* * *

Sakura downs a cup of sake in one gulp. Across from her, Shikamaru does the same. He squints his eyes as the alcohol burns down his throat. He was never a good drinker.

"That kid that you lost on the table today, what was his name?"

Sakura was staring into her newly poured drink when she looks up at Shikamaru. He leans back against the booth, one arm casually thrown over the top of it, and rubs the back of his head. She can't stop looking at him.

"You died in my dream last night."

Shikamaru's eyes go wide for a second. He scoffs and takes another drink.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Sakura."

The kunoichi laughs nervously and shakes her head. She knocks back another round of sake.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that. I just can't...get the image out of my head."

The other chunin sighs as he stares into his own cup.

"We're shinobi," he says slowly. "Death is an old friend."

"His name was Ryou. Ryou Hashimoto. And he died with my hands inside him."

Sakura holds her hands up a little, staring down at her palms. She remembers the stain of blood on them from the dream. She remembers the scent of iron and blackened flesh from this morning. It's almost enough to make her sick.

"Hey." Shikamaru reaches over and grabs Sakura's wrist, almost as if he's reading her mind. He makes her look at him. "It happens to all of us. We all lose people. Some sooner than others. But we," he gives one of his lazy smirks, "we're still alive. No dream can change that. The boy died for his Village. And we will honor that sacrifice."

He lets go of her wrist and Sakura returns her hands to her lap, liberating them from the guilt. She smiles softly at Shikamaru. He leans back in his seat, a little smug at his uplifting speech.

Sakura throws a dumpling skewer at him. He dodges it and laughs.

"You sound like a fortune cookie."

"Well that's the last time I'm helping you," he says with a scoff, crossing his arms over his chest. But his mouth tells a different story, the corners of it turned up in a smile.

"Shikamaru!" shouts a voice from the entrance. Ino is there, waving excitedly over at them.

"Hey," he calls back, raising his hand in a half-hearted wave. The other kunoichi comes over and slides in next to her teammate.

Sakura is about to say hello when she sees Shikamaru drape an arm around Ino's shoulders. The blonde reaches up and wipes a smudge from his cheek, to his annoyance. The pink haired ninja laughs.

"Something funny, billboard brow?" Ino asks with a smirk. Sakura chooses to ignore this.

"When did this happen?" she asks, raising an eyebrow at their proximity to each other and Shikamaru's very unusual display of affection. The ninja raises an eyebrow at the two of them while Ino starts to jabber on about how it happened, a very long and exaggerated story. Shikamaru, lazy and casual as ever, simply shrugs.

"She kind of pressured me into it."

This earns him a punch in the arm. Sakura laughs and pours Ino a drink.

And before they know it, their table starts to get crowded. Choji had been tipped off by his blonde teammate about where they would be just as Naruto had passed by and seen them. Angered that he didn't get an invite, he slides into the booth next to Sakura and gives her the silent treatment until she orders another round of sake. The Akimichi boy pulls up a chair and orders an enormous round of food. He just got back from a rather successful mission and felt like treating everyone.

Sure enough, Kiba's nose picked up all their congregating scents. Akamaru curled up under the table, Sakura feeding him scraps every now and again, while Kiba and Naruto shoved each other when he tried to squeeze in next to him and Sakura.

Eventually, after Rock Lee dragged another table over, the entire Konoha 11 was seating in this one restaurant, being loud and obnoxious as usual. Except for Neji of course who drank his sake quietly, slipping in the occasional snarky comment towards Naruto every now and again.

Even Shino was there and Sakura couldn't help but smiling across the table at Shikamaru as everyone shouted at the waitress for another round of sake.

_We're still alive. No dream can change that._

* * *

"It's your turn, Kotetsu."

The pair of best friends sit at the station of the main gate. It's nearly 11 pm and they're playing a few games of Tic-Tac-Toe. Izumo waits for his partner to make his move.

Nearly a minute passes by.

"Oh come on!" he says exasperatedly, "There's only two places where you can move!"

Kotetsu makes his move, making the game a draw, and Izumo angrily crumbles it up and tosses it into the road, after not winning for about the 10th time.

"You cheat," he mumbles.

Kotetsu laughs and scratches at the bandage on his nose. "How do you cheat at Tic-Tac-Toe?"

"I don't know, you could be using a jutsu to anticipate my moves or rearranging the markings on the page or-"

"Shut up, Izumo."

"No you shut up, cheater, I'm going to get to the bottom of thi-"

"No, seriously," Kotetsu clamps his hand over his best friend's mouth and says through his teeth. "Shut. Up."

They can feel it in the air. The charge and stir of an ominous chakra nearby. Izumo looks at Kotetsu and they quietly arm themselves, ready to leap over the station counter if a there's a threat. The gleam of their kunais wink at them from beneath the table.

Izumo's heart rate speeds up as the presence gets closer.

Tonight was supposed to be a dead night after Kakashi and his team returned. No other ninja were on the list for a home coming.

Kotetsu narrows his eyes at the entrance of the main gate. Izumo sweats beneath his shinobi cap.

There's the unmistakable poof of a transportation jutsu.

"Now!"

They both jump out from behind the counter, expecting to come to face with face with an enemy when the smoke clears.

The two men suddenly drop their kunai.

"Oh my god."

"Izumo, go get Lady Tsunade. Quickly!"

The ninja takes off sprinting. Kotetsu drops to his knees and picks up the shinobi's head, placing it in his lap. He coughs up blood, his eyes already starting to dim. The soldier clutches his Leaf symbol in his broken hand.

"No. Genma, stay with me. Come on, buddy, keep your eyes open."

Kotetsu tries to stop the blood that's pooling from Genma's chest cavity. There's too much of it. With no background in medical ninjutsu, even Kotetsu can tell that Genma doesn't have very long. His body is not repairable.

Genma groans and with the last bit of strength that he has left, he holds up a slip of paper, half written in ink, half smudged in his blood.

"Give this…" he wheezes to Kotetsu, "give this to the Hokage."

Genma coughs violently and it causes him a great deal of pain. Kotetsu holds him down to keep him from thrashing about. The ninja's eyes water.

Ninja do not cry. Ninja do not show emotion.

"Stop talking, save your energy, Genma!"

The dying shinobi smiles. He reaches up and weakly tucks the note into the front pocket of Kotetsu's shirt before his arm falls limp back to his side.

Genma makes Kotetsu look at him.

"Tell...the Hokage...that I-" he coughs once again, his lungs filling up with his own blood. " Tell her that I tried my best."

His eyes grow cold. Lifeless.

Lady Tsunade arrives too late.

The group of shinobi tailing her stop dead in their tracks as they watch Kotetsu say a prayer over Genma's body. His shoulders shake gently as he swallows his pain down, forcing it back into his chest where it will stay.

"Dammit, Genma," the Hokage says, hanging her head. Somewhere behind her, Shizune muffles a cry with her hand.

"Ma'am," Kotetsu says, turning his head to look at their leader. Genma's note is crushed in his fist. "We have a hostage situation."

* * *

"You're an idiot!"

"No you're an idiot!"

"Well you smell like a dog!"

"You don't smell very nice either, pal! When's the last time you took a shower?"

Naruto and Kiba quarrel once again. Sai stands in the middle of them, trying to calm them down. Everyone is fairly drunk and the night is still young. Sakura watches the two of them banter back and forth. Rock Lee is passed out somewhere nearby, underneath a table perhaps where Neji put him to save himself the embarrassment of his teammate's actions.

Shikamaru yawns, Ino crashed out against his shoulder.

"K-Kurenai sensei!" says Hinata. "What're you doing here?"

Everyone, including the ones who had previously been asleep, pick up their heads. Shikamaru nudges Ino awake. He can feel it in the air. Something is wrong.

The shinobi looks at them all sadly. Her strange eyes meet Shikamaru's and he immediately stands up. Sakura watches him curiously.

"Who is it?" he asks.

The question, the all too familiar question, makes everyone's heart stop. Naruto hangs his head.

Sakura tries to think of every ninja she cares about that is not accounted for right in front of her.

She pleads silently for Kurenai to not say the names of two specific men who the last time she checked, were away from home.

Death has show up on the doorstep of Village.

"Genma Shiranui is dead."

Naruto sweeps the bottle and cups off the table with his arm, sending them crashing to the floor. Ino's hand immediately seeks out Shikamaru's and he takes it tightly, still staring, although absently, at Kurenai.

A heavy cloud hangs over them all, their drunken stupor ebbing away with the severity of her words.

Ninja do not cry. Ninja do not show emotion. He died an honorable death.

"The funeral is first thing in the morning. I suggest you all get some sleep."

Everyone gets up and clears out, paying their bills solemnly. Tenten wraps her arm around Lee's shoulder as he rubs the beginnings of tears from his eyes. Sai pats Naruto on the shoulder who just gripped Sakura's hand as he passed by. A fleeting, desperate kind of grip. She squeezes the hand of her best friend and watches him go. Shikamaru, an arm wrapped around the silently sobbing Ino, nods at Kurenai as he passes, eyes distant and grieving.

"Sakura," says the older woman.

The pink haired ninja who was about to exit the restaurant stops. She looks at Kurenai over her shoulder.

"Kakashi is home. The news about Genma has already been broken to him." Her strange crimson eyes watch Sakura as her posture suddenly changes at the mention of his name. "Go to him."

Sakura doesn't have to be told twice. Before Kurenai can blink, she takes off, leaving a trail of tears behind her as she sprints.

* * *

Lady Tsunade watches as medical ninja cover Genma's body in the morgue. He died a horrible, painful death.

The thought makes the Hokage grit her teeth.

"Shizune," she calls softly.

Her assistant comes stepping out of the shadows and bows her head at the sight of his lifeless body. She can't help but fight back the grief. There is still work to be done.

"M'lady?"

The Hokage moves to leave the morgue, ready to sit in her office and brood over what is to be done about this situation. Yamato, Akira, and Raido are still out there, in the hands of the enemy. Shizune was right. She should've acted earlier.

"Keep the identity of the hostages quiet. Assemble a team of shinobi to send after them first thing in the morning."

"Yes ma'am."

Tsunade pushes open the door. But she pauses, thinking for a moment before she turns to look at Shizune over her shoulder.

"Do not let Sakura know that Yamato is missing."

* * *

She had been standing at his door for nearly five minutes. Every once in awhile, she would knock. Not a sound or a movement. But Sakura could feel his chakra inside.

And more than that, she just...knew.

"Come on," she mumbles to herself, getting worried. The kunoichi reaches out and to her surprise, the door is unlocked.

Sakura slips off her shoes, leaving them politely by the entrance as she closes his front door behind her. The entire house is shrouded in darkness. Not a single light is on. But she knows he's here.

Her jade eyes adjust to the dark and Sakura puts a hand over her mouth when she turns into the kitchen, knowing the floor plan of his house by heart now.

The kitchen has been all but destroyed.

His backpack and weapons have been unceremoniously discarded on the table. Plates and teacups lay smashed on the ground. A chair is splintered and broken against the wall. The mirror in the hallway is broken. Sakura stares back at her multiplied reflection.

She crosses the threshold into his living room. Papers, torn and scattered, litter the floor. Scrolls lay open and smudged with spilled ink. His coffee table has been flipped over, a lamp mangled and smashed in the corner. Sakura sighs sadly. She accidentally kicks an empty sake bottle and it rolls under the couch. It isn't the only one.

_Oh Kakashi._

"Stop."

Sakura freezes mid-step and looks to where the voice is coming from. Kakashi's bedroom opens up into the living room by two double doors. She didn't notice him standing there, leaning against the frame as he watched her move about his house in the dark.

She can see the glow of his one gray eye, a slit of moonlight crossing his line of vision from a break in the window blinds.

"There's glass right below your foot. Be careful," he warns softly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sakura looks down and removes her foot from immediate danger. The kunoichi slips down to the floor and brushes the glass away from a shattered picture frame. She flips it over in her hands and stares at the line of young faces looking up at her. Children's faces stare back.

Kakashi stands in the middle, his face mask forever hiding him, with his spiky hair and bad attitude. But he looks almost happy as his friends surround him. Kurenai and Asuma occupy the right hand corner. His eyes watch her even though Kurenai looks at the camera. Ebisu and Guy, silly as ever, occupy the left hand corner. Genma, Raido, and Sakura assumes, Obito and Rin, all squash themselves around Kakashi. There are a few faces she doesn't recognize.

"My graduating class at the academy," he tells her. Sakura stands up and places the picture back where it belongs, in the empty space between their original Team 7 picture and Team Minato. "Only 6 of us remain."

"I'm sorry about Genma, Kakashi." She turns around to see him with another bottle of sake in his hands.

He offers it to her.

"So am I."

* * *

They sit on the couch together while Sakura drinks. Kakashi has already had enough. He stares silently at the broken glass in the middle of his living room while Sakura watches him from the corner of her eye. The sake bottle, half empty when she got it, is set down on the floor somewhere so they don't trip over it.

Only the faint moonlight streaming in from his windows illuminates Kakashi's apartment.

"I dreamt about you last night," she says softly.

He doesn't move to look at her.

"Was it a good dream?"

"No. You were dying."

He gives an odd half-hearted chuckle. Sakura expects him to answer her the way Shikamaru did. But Kakashi has never been quite so predictable.

"Were you sad when I died?"

"Of course I was. I watched you burn to death."

He leans back against the couch and stares up at the ceiling. Sakura can't help but stare at his arms, exposed to her for the first time. She wants to wrap herself up in them and-

"I was supposed to die a long time ago. And I survived. At the price of my teammate's life. Now," he says with a sigh, running a shaky hand through his silver hair, "I am forced to repay that debt by watching all my friends bite the dust while all I watch."

Sakura looks at him sadly. Her hand reaches over and rests on his shoulder. She tries to peer up into his face but he looks away from her.

Shame. Guilt. Grief. It's written as plain as day across his body as he carries the weight of things that Sakura cannot see or know.

"Don't say things like that. You survived because you're not finished-"

"Finished with what? Being a shinobi?" He gives another strange chuckle and rubs his face tiredly. "Some days I wish I could finish being a soldier."

Sakura's hand floats down over his back and shoulder blades, not sure what to say anymore. There are days, on the worst days like this one, that she wishes the same thing. But Kakashi has seen more. He lived through the Third Great Ninja War and knows a kind of death that Sakura does not know just yet.

She rubs his back reassuringly and Kakashi, like two attracting magnets, leans into her touch. His sad gray eye opens and looks over at her as he leans his elbows on his knees.

"You lost Genma today. And others before." She smiles at him softly, her luminous green eyes looking back at him. "But you still have Naruto. And Shikamaru. Sai. Yamato. Kurenai. Guy." Her eyes flicker strangely. "And me. You survived because you weren't finished making friends that care about you."

He looks at his pink haired ninja for a long time, their eyes locked in an exchange almost too powerful for words. Kakashi stares into her jade green gaze like he's doing it for the first time.

The word 'friend' and Sakura together in the same thought just taste wrong in his mouth.

"I have seen so much death, Sakura."

His hand comes up and touches the kunoichi's cheek. She closes her eyes and leans her face into his touch although she fights the urge to hold it there against her skin with her own. Kakashi's cold thumb strokes the plane of her delicate jawline.

"You were holding your hand out to me. In my dream. Your hand reached out for me on the battlefield and you asked me to come with you. And then…" Sakura swallows the lump in her throat as she remembers the heat of the fire that would kill him. "Then I watched you burn. I woke up screaming your name."

"I'm sorry. That must've been terr-"

"So don't you dare say that you should've died years ago. Because you were meant to find me. And Naruto and Sasuke. It would kill us if you died, Kakashi. So don't say things like that when I know you don't mean them." Her eyes are watering and Kakashi is alarmed. She's crying and he's not sure why.

Sakura just can't hold it in. All day she has been wanting to stop being a shinobi for one goddamn minute and just let it out. Yamato's absence. Ryou Hashimoto dying with her hands buried inside his chest. Genma's sudden death.

And her absolutely confusing and tormenting feelings for Kakashi that she can't seem to reign in any longer.

"Please don't. I don't want to see you cry," he says softly.

He grabs her face with both his hands gently and wipes the wetness from her cheeks. Sakura tries to hold in her sobs but she can't. They appear like tidal waves and she keeps thinking about Kakashi dying right in front of her in that stupid dream. And she can't take another minute of being in the same room with Kakashi and not kissing him.

The girl reaches over and does the unthinkable.

She pulls down his mask.

But the funny part? She doesn't care that she can see his face.

Her lips crash against his as she throws herself into Kakashi's arms. She's not sure if he's going to kiss her back or hold her against him but she doesn't have an ounce of self control left anymore. Maybe it's the sake.

Maybe she just doesn't care.

But Kakashi does. Immediately, as Sakura's split second of courage frees him from his own personal restraints, he traps her to him and kisses her back. The ninja's hands curl into her lovely pink hair and she holds his face to hers, tears still streaming down from her eyes.

They kiss each other like the world is about to end.

Her small fingers tug at his silver hair, her arms wrapping around his neck as his powerful arms lift her up. Kakashi carries her to the bedroom and gently lays her down, sinking down onto the bed with her. He's not willing to surrender her lips, not even for a moment as he hovers over her.

They're both drunk and it's late. But the gnawing feeling inside Kakashi's chest only disappears when Sakura is kissing him. God, he hoped and prayed for so long that one day he would be able to taste her lips and now he is.

His head swims, Sakura acting as her own kind of drug that Kakashi is willing to overdose on.

"You're so beautiful," she suddenly whispers.

He opens his eyes to see her staring at him, her fingers tracing the foreign contours and lines of his pale face. The aristocratic nose, his high cheekbones and strong jaw. Sakura takes it all in, searing it into her memory as she realizes that he is even more handsome than she ever imagined.

Her index finger touches his lips. She stares and stares, deciding that they are to die for.

Kakashi smiles softly, smoothing back her now tousled pink hair from her face. He kisses her forehead and they catch their breath. The ninja feels like the world, just for a moment, has been set right as he stares down at Sakura laying in his bed.

The kunoichi, always fiery and passionate in everything that she does, grabs him by his silver hair and brings his lips crashing back down onto hers. Her tongue dances its way inside his mouth and he accepts it gratefully. Sakura's hand slips under his shirt and touches her palm to the cut planes of his abdomen. He shudders violently, his skin hot against the cool touch of her fingers.

Kakashi looks down into her eyes. He doesn't want to scare her away or push her too far.

He has Sakura. And now he wants to keep her.

She nods, giving him permission to his silent request. And their first midnight dance together begins.

Clothes are stripped off. Hands explore places that they thought they would never get to touch.

Kakashi's mouth latches onto her neck and Sakura moans quietly, her hand tangled in his silver hair. The shinobi swears that it's the most beautiful sound he has ever heard.

He lays his bare body ontop of hers and with the softest kiss of her lips, he relishes in the feel of her skin on his and Sakura never wants to stop this dance. It seems it like it will go on forever.

Her fingernails scratch at his shoulder blades as Kakashi closes his eyes, tilting his head back as Sakura moans out, close to her breaking point. His body is coated in a thin layer of sweat and he looks down at her, hands tangled in her pink hair.

"Look at me," he whispers.

Sakura opens her eyes and falls off the edge, staring at his one gray eye and sharingan. Her back arches and her toes curl as she shudders, riding out the tidal wave of her ecstasy. Kakashi finishes right after, the faintest of sounds falling from his lips. He collapses ontop of her, his hair matted to the back of his neck with sweat.

They lay in the dark and breathe. Beneath him, Sakura's legs shake and she whimpers into his neck.

Kakashi holds her tight, burying his face in her hair.

"Can I stay the night?" she asks, still trying to catch her breath. Kakashi rolls off of her and lays beside her, snatching her up close. He curls around her small body and kisses her neck, his eyes heavy with sleep.

"Sakura, you can stay as long as you like."


	6. Chapter 6

_5 months earlier_

"Stop being a baby, Yamato!"

"Well you're not necessarily being gentle, Sakura."

"Do you want to run around the Village with broken ribs because I can arrange that."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

The Captain looks up at Sakura as he lays on his side, her green eyes stern as she cocks a dull pink eyebrow at him. They challenge each other. And before it's even begun, Yamato knows he is going to lose.

"Alright, Miss Haruno. I apologize. You may continue," he says with a fancy sarcastic flourish of his hand and a wince as Sakura presses her medical ninjutsu back onto his abdomen.

"God you're so grouchy when you're injured."

He gives a chuckle and then flinches again. His pain makes it hard to laugh.

"These fractures are days old, Yamato," says Sakura, almost chiding him. "Why didn't you go to the hospital and get them examined?"

He mumbles something under his breath, almond eyes closed so he doesn't have to see her scowl at him. The kunoichi presses tenderly down on his severely bruised ribcage and he hisses.

"What was that?" she asks with a smirk. Yamato opens his left eye, head propped up on his elbow, and tries to stand his ground against her glare.

He can't help it. He always loses.

"I said that I hate hospitals." His voice is soft, barely a whisper as he shivers at the thought of antiseptic coated white walls and disease crawling on every square inch.

Sakura snorts. "You and Kakashi sensei both."

"Oh I've always known that our friend hates hospitals almost as much he hates to pay the bill."

This earns him a sweet chuckle from Sakura as she continues to heal his busted up ribs. She's managed to mend the fractures, simply working on the deep bruising that would cause him discomfort whenever he moved around too much.

"So both of you decide to come bother me at my home instead of asking any average medical ninja to treat you? How childish."

She grins as Yamato clears his throat and pretends that he didn't hear her call him a child. The ninja simply watches her face as she works, holding her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asks suddenly.

Yamato blushes faintly and he mumbles something incoherently.

"Sorry, didn't catch that." She threatens to press down on his wound once again.

The jonin squirms a little and holds up his hands in surrender.

"I _said-_" Yamato raises his eyes to hers, cautiously. Everything about him has always been just that. "I said that it's...it's hard not to stare."

Her eyes meet his as Sakura finishes up her medical ninjutsu, the green medicinal glow fading softly. She hasn't said a word in over a minute now.

The jonin tugs down the hem of his shinobi shirt and sits up slowly. His fingers absently trace the leaf village crest on the front of his faceguard as he holds it in his lap.

The silence is deafening.

"I'm sorry, that was out of line. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." He clears his throat. "Thank you, by the way, for fixing me up." The male ninja stands, her couch's old springs squeaking beneath the change in weight. Yamato, tall as ever, pulls his helmet back on.

In another bout of silence, now thoroughly embarrassed, Yamato tugs on his flak jacket. He tries to slow down his movements, not wanting to seem too eager to get out of cleaning up the mess he just made. But Sakura's eyes haven't left his face.

He feels like a bad friend. Some lines are just not meant to be crossed. The silence rolls on.

Yamato gives her a faint, half-nervous smile and heads for her door. Sakura politely follows him.

He opens up the entrance to her home and is about to step out when he suddenly turns. Sakura nearly collides with his chest. She stares up at him, an eyebrow raised.

Yamato has never been so intimidated by a woman in his life.

Well, Tsunade is rather frightening but that's a different story.

"I apologize if I said something wrong. It's just that," his eyes switch from the ground to holding her gaze, back and forth. "You shouldn't settle for being treated as one of the boys, Sakura." He finally plucks up the courage to look at her.

"Someone needs to remind you that you're worth staring at."

Sakura's eyes flicker strangely, her only response, and Yamato takes this as his cue that he has overstayed his welcome.

"See you around, Sakura." He gives a friendly smile but it doesn't reach his eyes.

He's never seen his teammate act so cold.

And to be honest, it stings a little.

Yamato turns on his heels and is about to jog down the stairs of her apartment complex when Sakura calls out to him. He stops in his tracks.

"Can you cook?"

Yamato looks curiously at her over his shoulder. He ponders this and his hand tremors, once. Nervously.

"Yeah, I'm pretty decent. Why do you ask?"

The kunoichi sweeps her pink hair from her jade eyes and smiles.

Yamato has to hold in a sigh of relief.

"Can I come over for dinner tomorrow tonight? If you're free."

His heart skips a beat, the knot that had previously been tightening his insides releasing the pressure so he can breathe again.

The Captain chuckles and smiles back at Sakura. This time, it reaches his dark almond shaped eyes and Sakura can't help but stare.

"It's a date then."

* * *

Sakura reaches out for him. Half-asleep, she lifts her arm, heavy from drowsiness, and searches for his hair so she can tangle her fingers in it. Yamato's favorite wake up call.

But there's no one there. Her hand comes down on the empty half of the bed, clutching the smooth sheets between her fingers.

And there's no scent of sandalwood.

Only the hint of rain water and the charge of lightning before it strikes the earth.

Her eyes open and the memories of last night come back to her in waves as she remembers whose bed she has crawled into.

Kakashi's unmasked face hovering over in the dark as their shadows dance against the wall.

His lips coming down softly on her neck as she arches up into him.

He throws his head back, releasing his own kind of tidal wave, the most beautiful expression of pleasure on his face.

There's the whisper of her name falling from his lips as for the first time in a long time, he easily drifts off into sleep.

Sakura suddenly feels sick.

Her head pounds, a little hungover and the sunlight streaming in from his blinds glares at her, angrily.

She deserves it.

The kunoichi had given in to loneliness. She had been weak. Her sensei had crumbled right before her eyes, stripping himself down to nothing but a Kakashi that she has never seen before.

Yamato's absence had left her stranded in mourning. Kakashi had let her in.

His eyes had opened up like the bloom of a cherry blossom when he looked at her, a softness foreign to his face but still alluring nonetheless.

The mighty Kakashi of the Sharingan, nothing but a splintered, drunk shadow of a man overcome by the death of a friend. How could she not want to wrap him around her?

How could she leave her friend of all these years to sit there and break like an old picture frame in the dark?

She herself had been shattering. So they shattered each other in return.

His eyes and the curve of his lips were just a temptation too great to stand against when sake had replaced the blood in her veins. Grief had overcome the both of them and they decided to dance in a bed that she didn't belong in.

Sakura decides to ignore the past couple of weeks spent with him. She chooses to overlook the lingering stares and the innocent touches. The suddenly awkward exchanges between the two of them.

She chooses to forget the fact that he leaves shivers down her spine.

Instead, Sakura faces the reality of her situation.

He had been mourning. So he drank.

She had been lonely and blamed. So she got drunk.

They slept together, sensei and student, and betrayed Yamato in the worst of ways.

Sakura can only think of the sickening shame he would feel when he found out.

Or worse, when Kakashi realizes that he slept with the lover of his friend, unknowingly.

And she did nothing to stop it.

"Oh my god," she whispers to herself, covering her face with her hands as she lays on her back, naked and tangled up in her sensei's bed sheets. "What have I done?"

She turns over and the side of her face crumples a piece of paper that had been left on Kakashi's pillow. Sakura reaches up and slips it out from underneath her, smoothing it with her fingers.

**_Sakura, _**

**_Had to run a few errands early this morning. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you woke up. _**

**_There's breakfast_ _on the table if you're hungry. _**

**_See you at the funeral. _**

**_-Kakashi_**

The pinkette touches the note to her lips and stays like that for awhile, concentrating.

She turns onto her back once again, watching his ceiling fan spin until she's dizzy.

_A drunk Sakura, on both sex and sake, staring up at the same ceiling fan in the dark as Kakashi hovers over her, his body sliding slowly against hers as her as she moans his name quietly._

She shuts her eyes and forces the thought from her brain.

Sakura had wronged Yamato. She had wronged Kakashi.

The moment that she entered his house, she overstepped her boundaries as student to sensei. She tainted him.

Sakura curses her incompetence as a shinobi. She damns her inability to mourn and cry in the privacy of her home like a ninja should.

Instead she has to do that in someone else's bed, wrapped up in his arms until he makes her forget that it's wrong to be there.

Naruto trains.

Shikamaru plays shogi.

Ino arranges flowers for hours and hours with no sleep, an attempt to find beauty amongst death.

Rock Lee runs and runs until his body literally gives out beneath him.

But Sakura? Sakura sleeps with her sensei to forget the ache of loss.

An ugly acidic feeling bubbles in her stomach as she grows even more disgusted with herself.

One, because she ruined the relationship between her and Kakashi for good. Or it will be ruined very soon.

Two, because she's lying to herself.

Last night didn't mean _nothing_.

Sakura had wanted to kiss Kakashi. She wanted to face the man behind the mask, to search for the Kakashi that hides underneath the cool, nearly placid exterior.

She found him and couldn't keep her hands off of him.

The kunoichi suddenly decides, with the jolt of that last thought, that it's getting later in the morning and she needs to go home. Genma's funeral awaits her.

The pink haired ninja untangles herself from Kakashi's bed and steps onto the cold hardwood floor of his room. She collects her clothing, left in heaps beside the bed, and pulls it on slowly. The kunoichi looks for her headband, kicking Kakashi's pants from last night and his boxers around, trying to find it.

Turning, she found that he had placed it on the nightstand, almost arranging it like an art piece.

A shinobi who is tired of being a shinobi still loves the Land of Fire more than life or lust.

She ties it in her usual way and quietly steps out into the living room. Sakura knows he's not there. But there's still the weariness in her insides that twists into worry that he might be.

The kunoichi isn't ready to face him after last night. Not yet.

She shuts the double doors of his bedroom behind her. Her eyes linger on the couch where she had kissed him first. The thought replays the moment back to her like an old film, fast and flickering.

Half of her wishes she could take it back.

The other half lies about not wanting to.

Sakura sets his coffee table right and picks up the things he knocked off it, placing them back on the surface neatly. She straightens the overturned lamp and collects the empty sake bottles into her arms.

The pinkette carries them to the kitchen, disposing of them in the trash.

She turns to find another note left next to a nearly empty box of cereal, a bowl, and milk on the table.

**_Sakura, _**

**_I forgot to go grocery shopping this week. _**

**_Again._**

**_-Kakashi_**

Although Yamato and Kakashi are opposing forces ripping through her brain, along with the brothers of shame and guilt, Sakura can't help but smile a little.

If there's one thing Kakashi won't ever stop doing, it's being forgetful.

She cleans up the kitchen, sweeping the broken glass and the splintered pieces of the wooden chair, and clears the table of his weapons and backpack.

For a long time, Sakura stares at the box of cereal.

Do you eat the food of the man who you regret sleeping with?

Do you eat the food offered to you by your sensei?

Do you eat it because you don't regret it?

Sakura sighs and sits down. She pours herself a bowl and eats every excruciating bite.

Kakashi's mismatched eyes, one gray orb and one bright sharingan, stare back at her. Even when she closes her eyes.

* * *

"It's nearly time for the funeral," says Kurenai, approaching Asuma's grave with a bundle of flowers in her arms. But she isn't the only one visiting her lost lover this morning. A certain silver haired ninja stands at the late Sarutobi's headstone, his hands shoved lazily in his pockets. "We should get going soon."

The other ninja simply "hmms" back at her, acknowledging her presence but not really accepting it. His mind is off somewhere that she can't follow. That is, until he sighs.

Oh how Kurenai knows that sigh all too well. It's the deep breath of an internal conflict, a man's duty standing against his heart.

The shinobi goes to stand beside her companion. She kneels down and sets the fresh white lilies on Asuma's grave. Her fingers linger on the last few characters of his surname. How many times had Kurenai been excited over taking that name before his death?

Kakashi has left a half empty pack of cigarettes on his tombstone. She raises an eyebrow at him as she rises, dusting the dirt and bits of grass off her knees. The kunoichi adjusts the hem of her black skirt.

"You smoke now?"

"Only when I think about Asuma."

This makes Kurenai smile a little.

"How's your boy doing, Kurenai?" he asks politely, morning still settling onto Konoha behind them. Kakashi iis not ready to move just yet and face the burial of another friend.

"He looks more and more like his father every day." She glances sideways at the silver haired man. "You should come by and see him sometime. Tell him stories about his Dad."

The copy ninja looks up at the sky, tilting his head back. He gives a blink and hums something that sounds like a, "sure, Kurenai, I will". He's always been rather excited about the prospect of seeing her son. Kakashi just usually forgets, as always. But today he brushes the offer off.

The kunoichi and Kakashi stare at Asuma's grave together in silence. A few moments pass and Kureani interrupts his thoughts once again.

"What're you doing, Kakashi?"

He gives another one of those too long sighs.

"I was talking to Asuma. Telling him about Genma."

"That's not what I mean."

The ninja raises an eyebrow in her direction and with just a glance, he knows what she's talking about. He swivels his eyes back to the lilies swaying gently in the morning breeze. October is upon them.

"Drop it, Kurenai."

The kunoichi is nearly startled at the coldness in his voice. Kakahsi has hardly ever been one to get emotional during typical conversation.

But, well, this wasn't one of those talks, she supposes.

"I've known you, very well, longer than most people in this village, Kakashi. I can see the guilt written plain across your eyes."

The ninja shifts, almost uncomfortably, and suddenly wishes he had left Asuma's grave earlier. He was forever getting lost in talking to the dead.

It was so much easier for him than talking to the living.

Kakashi doesn't respond and Kurenai gives a low chuckle.

"It's been a year Kakashi. How could you possibly think that I didn't notice?" She tucks a long piece of her dark hair behind her ear, crimson eyes flashing in his direction to find that Kakashi is already looking back at her. "Like I said, I know you better than most. Unlike your students, I'm attuned to things about you that they are not."

"Enough, Kurenai."

"Why, because you know it's true?"

"I just wanted to spend more time with her. She was never supposed to return any shape or form of those-"

He stops himself, swallowing the words back down from his outburst.

_Of those feelings for someone like me._

"Kakashi," the kunoichi suddenly says seriously. "Tell me you didn't."

The shinobi can only stare at Asuma's grave, not willing to look at her in the eye because he knows she can read his reply on his face.

"Do you have any idea what both of you have done?"

"I know perfectly well the damage of my actions, Kurenai," his says smoothly. Always the collected, seemingly uninterested Kakashi. But inside he is panicking. And she knows it.

Kurenai takes a long look at her companion. Before her strange red eyes, the young, sleepy eyed ninja that she used to know at the academy takes his place. But he changes back into the slouched form of the man that he is today. She can see the tension in the shoulders, his eyebrow furrowed in thought and his one stormy eye staring at Asuma's grave but not really seeing it.

The kunoichi lays a hand on his shoulder. Kakashi's own gloved hand reaches up and in one of those rare moments, Kurenai has only shared a few of them with this ninja, he places it ontop of hers.

_Tell me what to do, _the gesture says to her.

His fingers linger on hers for only a moment before he drops it back to his side, the air around him changing once again as he builds up his guard. Kurenai, no matter how long they have known each other, still only gets mere moments of the man behind the mask.

"We already lost Genma, Kakashi." She turns to leave, the time to head over to the funeral finally arriving. "Don't lose her too."

* * *

Kakashi glances sideways at Sakura over the top of Naruto's head.

He can't tell if Sakura is simply engrossed in thought or if she's purposely avoiding his gaze.

The copy ninja turns his eyes back to the front, pushing the latter thought down into his chest where it will fester. His eyes search for hers one more time but the kunoichi does not budge. Not until Naruto whispers something to her. The pinkette leans back in to reply, looking her friend in the face.

Only for a split second does her stare wander behind Naruto's shoulder to meet Kakashi's.

The funeral has begun and the Hokage takes her place amongst the shinobi who have come, shrouded in black.

"I know what you are all thinking," calls the Hokage, staring out at the straight faces of her soldiers.

Shinobi do not cry. Shinobi do not show emotion.

The only sobbing comes from the civilian family and friends of the deceased.

Genma's girlfriend, a rather petite thing with pretty purple eyes and curly brown hair, covers her mouth. He always warned her that this day might come.

Sakura can't help but pity her.

Tears have welled up in her eyes but Yamato can't save her right now. And neither can Kakashi.

She must shoulder the grief alone this time.

Duty before all. The Land of Fire above all.

She swallows the lump in her throat.

"That this is the price of being a shinobi. Dying young. Some sooner than others." Tsunade bows her head respectfully to the parents of the young genin Ryou. His mother is barely standing, unable to cope with the fact that her greatest fear has been realized.

The King of the Leaf Village is giving a eulogy for her only son.

"Is it worth it?" Tsunade asks. Her eyes drift to the pictures of Genma and Ryou, encircled with white remembrance flowers. "I have stood where you are standing countless times. For my own brother." Her eyes capture the gaze of Genma's girlfriend. "For my lover. Others I could not properly say goodbye to. Their bodies lost in the field, degenerating back into the earth that they shed their blood to protect."

From Sakura's left, Naruto Uzumaki's eyes water as he understands Tsunade's subtle allusion to his sensei.

"I have stood where you stand. And I know that death calls for us when we are least expecting it." Her voice gets louder as her resolve gets stronger, the point she is trying to make bubbling to the surface. "I have wished to walk away from being a shinobi before. I have prayed with all my might for some kind of power mightier than me to make me stop caring for ninja who always seem to slip from my fingers far too early."

Sakura glances over at Kakashi and he's already looking at her. The sentiment from last night, the exhaustion of carrying Konoha's symbol, is scribbled into his one gray eye.

"So is it worth it?" She looks out at all their faces. "I didn't get a chance to know Ryou but from his peers and his family, I know that he would've made a fine shinobi. The Will of Fire burned in him the way it burns in the best of us. He died facing a foe that had only blood on his mind. The boy fought valiantly, holding his own far longer against this enemy than anyone would've expected. But Genma..." Her eyes sadden. "Genma outshined many of us as a shinobi. And as a man."

Tsunade, only for a second, looks down at her feet. The face of her younger brother flashes before her eyes. She looks up, her face now fierce and unforgiving. The face of a Hokage.

"Justice will be swift. Genma and Ryou will not have died for this land for nothing."

The mother of Ryou sobs uncontrollably now. Sakura watches from the corner of her eye and her heart cracks beneath her ribs.

She can see it there, in the pools of tears in Mrs. Hashimoto's eyes, the hatred of shinobi. This world took her son from her. They, the headband wearing ninja of her village, are all the enemy now.

"Right this moment, right this very second there are men out there on missions that could die for their Village at any moment, just as Genma and Ryou died."

Lady Tsunade's eyes flicker to Sakura's.

"Death follows the life of a shinobi around like an old friend. But it is up to us to decide that that sacrifice is meaningful. So many of us standing here have loss in their hearts that cannot be explained, only named after who a shinobi see when they close their eyes."

The Hokage places the first white rose on the graves of both Genma and Ryou.

She turns back to her men, to the families of both deceased, and says,

"Honor their memory. Honor their sacrifice."

It happens so fast, no one has time to blink.

On the rooftop of the main building, right beneath Hokage mountain, there's the unmistakable pop of a transportation jutsu. Ryou's mother screams, startled out of her sobbing by the interruption.

The cloud of dust and smoke swirls around the sudden intruders. But surrounded by shinobi, that wasn't such a good idea. ANBU Black Ops begin crowding the Hokage, forming a semi-circle around her as the mini dust storm begins to clear but it still shrouds the figures lingering behind it. Kakashi's sharingan eye is open and watching.

Just as an ANBU is about to perform a binding jutsu to capture the invaders, Kakashi shouts out,

"No, stop! It's not an enemy!"

The smoke clears.

And the Hokage pushes her way through the ANBU.

A blonde kid, his jonin flak jacket torn to shreds with burns encompassing the entire left side of his body, lays on the ground. His eyes stare up at the sky, cold and unmoving.

His father presumably, begins shoving his way through the crowd, shouting his name with the fury and desperation that only a parent can muster.

Someone screams Raido's name as he drops to his knees. Kakashi wouldn't have even recognized him if someone hadn't called out to him. The damage to his already scarred face is terrifying.

Sakura puts a hand to her mouth as Yamato's eyes meet hers from across the rooftop.

From beside her, Naruto screams out his captain's name but the sound is muffled and unclear to Sakura. The earth spins uneasily beneath her and she wants to be sick.

The Captain makes a few stumbling steps forward, his eyes never leaving Sakura's face, even as sticky red blood trickles down from his skull. He coughs and crimson splatters itself before his feet.

A large shuriken sticks out from Yamato's abdomen and his right arm has the white of a bone tearing through his shirt.

So many more injuries plague his body that Sakura doesn't have time to give them a once over.

Yamato is about to fall forward. And if he does, it will push the shuriken even farther into his stomach and most likely kill him.

The kunoichi pushes past Naruto, nearly knocking him down, and races to him. She slides to her knees, not caring if the rooftop burns against her skin, and catches Yamato just before he hits the ground.

His head falls against her shoulder, his faceguard still clutched in his unbroken hand. Sakura supports him by his shoulders, eyes wide with fear. People all around her are scrambling, medical ninja already trying to pry him away from her. There's still some screaming. That father wails. The Hokage barks out orders but Sakura can only hear Yamato as he rasps into her ear,

"I told you I'd be home soon."

* * *

Yamato stares up at the fluorescent lights of the hospital as they pass him by.

The pain in his body ravages it's way through every cell until they're all on fire.

He can't hear. He can barely see. Only the lights above and the blur of faces surrounding him let Yamato know that he's moving and in good hands.

At least, that's what he hopes.

There's something like a slap and Yamato is suddenly fully conscious. And fully aware of the extent of his pain.

Sakura runs beside his stretcher and she wants to stop and curl up somewhere away from Yamato's screams. She can't bear it. She can't watch as he writhes and thrashes, his lungs filling up with his own blood.

"Yamato, stay with me!" she calls out to him, her voice cracking underneath the weight of how much work they have ahead of them. His almond eyes go in and out of focus as he turns to look at her.

His unbroken hand clutches at hers as it grips the side of his stretcher.

"Get her out of here," he rasps, blood still trickling down his throat. He swallows, trying again. "Get her out of here! I don't want her to be in there!"

He tries to sit up and the shuriken shifts, tearing something in his stomach further. He takes in a sharp breath which turns into a gurgle as someone shoves him back down.

"Don't move!" Shizune shouts. The Hokage follows close behind them, severely handing out orders for both Yamato and Raido who are being rushed into surgery. She hears Yamato's shout.

"Go, Sakura!" the Hokage demands.

The pink haired kunoichi snaps her head to her master and then looks down at Yamato, hurt smacked onto her face. Hurt and panic. But she still rushes him into the operating wing alongside the medical team.

Yamato's almond eyes stare up at hers and he reaches his hand out to touch her face but he can't close the distance.

"I don't want you to-" he coughs and his blood splatters her cheek, "To see me like this. Especially if I d-"

"Don't you fucking say it, Yamato! Don't you dare say it!"

"Sakura!" shouts the Hokage, "Leave! NOW."

But the kunoichi refuses. She rushes words of encouragement and strength to Yamato who starts to seize on the stretcher.

"Kakashi! Get her out of here before I throw her out myself!"

The copy ninja does as ordered and wraps his arms around Sakura's waist. She holds onto Yamato's stretcher for dear life until she's forced to let go as they disappear behind the doors of the operating room.

"Sakura, stop. He's going to be alright," Kakashi says soothingly. He holds her back from running in after him by her arms. She manages to maneuver her way around to face her sensei, tears streaming down her face as Yamato's blood paints her left cheek. Still struggling, she fights to free herself.

"Stop, Sakura," he orders sternly. The kunoichi still blindly tries to fight him even though he has her arms pinned to her side. She mumbles incoherently about needing to be there to help. About how she can't just stand there and do nothing.

"Enough!" he orders one more time.

The copy ninja pulls Sakura to him as she lets her knees give out beneath her. They both fall together, Kakashi refusing to let her go. Sakura cries against his shoulder, her resistance slowly fading. The shinobi holds her too him by the back of her pink hair, soothing her as best he can without words.

But he stares over her shoulder at Kurenai who is standing there, looking back at both them.

She shakes her head.

Kakashi looks down at the sobbing kunoichi in his arms and shuts his one gray eye, the realization hitting him like a train wreck.

Yamato reaching up to touch her face flashes in his mind, blaring like an alarm.

He's already lost her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: First and foremost, thank you all for the reviews and support of Love Child. It keeps me motivated to keep writing and makes me unbelievably happy!**

**Second, I need to correct a mishap in continuity. The very first scene where Sakura realizes she is dying is said to take place 4 months after the rest of the story but I have to correct that. That initial scene, as of now, takes place 6 months after. I miscalculated the amount of time that needed to pass to develop the plot. However that doesn't change the fact that Sakura, when hospitalized, is four months pregnant. The flashback of Yamato and Sakura's first romantic encounter in the last chapter is 5 months prior to her waking up in Yamato's bed in chapter one. The order so far goes Yamato&Sakura, Main Plot, Sakura's Hospital Scene from Chapter One.**

**Once again, thank you all so much. **

* * *

"Yamato," calls Tsunade, luring him out of his half-conscious state. "Keep your eyes open, let me see your eyes."

The captain blinks furiously, his vision spotted and blurry. His Hokage's blonde pigtails sway over him as she leans in to pull back his eyelid. His pupils refuse to dilate.

"He doesn't have much time, people, move it faster!" she demands.

"Raido is clear, ma'am," says Shizune, the snap of fresh gloves echoing like a thunder-clap in Yamato's brain. It makes his head ache.

"Raido," wheezes Yamato. He musters the strength to grab onto what he thinks to be Tsunade's wrist hovering over his chest with her medical ninjutsu. He grips it tight, both to get her attention and to hold himself steady in reality. The beeps and static and nervous jabbering of the operating room are making Yamato nervous. "Is Raido going-" he takes a rattling breath, "is he going-" The words refuse to come out.

"He's doing just fine, Tenzou. I need you to focus on staying awake, okay?"

Tsunade removes his grip from her hand and restarts the medical ninjutsu. It feels like she's tearing at his insides.

"On the count of three we're going to pull the shuriken out of his abdomen," explains Shizune to the rest of the medical team standing by. "Suppress the bleeding and get your hands in there to start healing whatever you can, as quickly as you can."

He should know their faces. Why doesn't he know their faces?

"Akira," croaks Yamato, eyes wildly looking around him to see if the rookie jonin had joined him in the operating room. "Where's A...Akira?"

Tsunade simply looks at him and shakes her head.

Yamato feels a stab of pain that has nothing to do with the shuriken being forced from insides. He forgot. The boy had died before they even reached Konoha.

"He needs pain meds," a nurse nearby says shrilly as his heart rate starts to drop.

If Yamato could talk properly, he would beg for them.

"No. If he gets pain meds, it will put him under. His head injury is too severe. If he goes to sleep, he won't wake up." She looks up at the nurse. "His body is in shock, he can't feel much. Keep working."

"Tsunade." His voice barely comes out in a whisper. No one answers him. "Tsunade!" he rasps.

Her worried chocolate eyes meet his. But before he can say anything else, Yamato starts to slip into a seizure.

"Time is running out!" the Hokage snaps as she pulls her hands away from Yamato's body to dismiss the medical ninjutsu. She turns him on his side as he seizes, gritting her teeth. "Is Chamber 2 ready yet?!"

"Yes ma'am!" replies Shizune. "Move him out!" the medical ninja calls out to the team.

They wheel Yamato as quickly as they can to Chamber 2. The Hokage jogs beside his stretcher. His sheets are soaked with blood and his almond shaped eyes have rolled back into his head.

Tsunade wants to be sick. She wants to scream for Yamato. But she can't. There is so much work to be done.

They enter Chamber 2 where they carefully pick Yamato up and place him on the floor in the middle of a chakra diagram shaped in a triangle that grows a bright medicinal green. Tsunade takes her place at the point, sitting down hurriedly as she shrugs off her jacket. Shizune and another medical ninja sit at the two corners of the base.

"Begin."

The three of them put their hands together in a sign and a bright green character glows on Yamato's forehead. Chakra emits from their bodies to the lines and symbols of the diagram like a current, healing the damage to his brain and his skull.

Two other medical ninja sit outside the triangle, aiming their chakra for the injuries to his broken bones and his abdominal wound.

Yamato stops seizing.

"Come on, Tenzou," Tsunade whispers with a grunt, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of her face. "Don't leave her like this."

As if Yamato can hear his Hokage, he pictures a pink haired Sakura, sleepy eyed and gorgeous in the morning light, smiling at him from her side of the bed.

Then everything goes white.

* * *

"How's he doing?"

Kakashi snaps his head up to meet the eyes of the Nara clan's prodigy. He shakes himself out of his festering thoughts and rubs the back of his head. The copy ninja gives a sigh.

"I don't know. We haven't heard anything yet."

He looks around at the waiting room. It was full to the brim earlier with shinobi wishing for good news. A nurse kicked most of them all out since they were crowding the entrance to the hospital where other patients needed to come and go. Only a few lingered.

Naruto sat nearby, his head leaned back against the wall as he stared at nothing in particular. Sai sat next to him, equally quiet although he intently watched the doors of the operating wing, just waiting for somebody to come through and let them know something.

A few jonin that Kakashi knew to be ANBU milled about in the corner, talking quietly amongst themselves.

He heard one of them whisper Sakura's name.

Almost as if Shikamaru read his thoughts, he threw his hands in his pockets lazily and asked seriously,

"And how is she holding up?"

He didn't need to clarify the _she_ that he was talking about.

Sakura laid her feelings for Yamato bare for everyone in the hospital to see. Their secret is out.

It makes Kakashi grind his teeth together. Then he chides himself for envy when Yamato could very well be dead behind those doors.

The older ninja jerks his head to the break room that settled a few doors down from them.

"Naruto took her in there earlier to lay down. She was sound asleep the last time I checked."

"Yeah," Shikamaru sighs, giving the slightest nod of his head. "Yamato and Sakura." He gives one of his signature 'this is troublesome' huffs and scratches the side of his face. "Who would've guessed it?"

It takes everything in Kakashi's power to not make a fist. Because no one, not a single soul would've guessed it. Yamato always played by the rules, always the perfect gentleman and shinobi.

Dating his teammate just seemed like too much of a reach for Kakashi to comprehend.

But that was only the jealousy talking again.

"Yeah. Who knew."

He closes his eye and sees Sakura's face as she races alongside his stretcher. The man's hand reached up, trying to touch her, but he couldn't.

He remembers Sakura kicking and screaming to get away from him when last night, all she wanted to do was hold him. All for Yamato.

How could he have not seen it?

After all this time of watching her when she wasn't looking, after trying to stomp away these petulant feelings in the pit of his stomach whenever he was around her, how could he not see that she was always looking at_ him_ instead?

But Kakashi guesses it was probably because he was never watching Yamato.

"Hey," Shikamaru interrupts, clapping Kakashi on the back. The silver haired ninja stirs and turns his head to look at the genius. "He's going to be alright."

Kakashi gives a lazy smile, taking a deep breath as he nods to the boy. But Shikamaru doesn't know him well enough to realize that the gesture doesn't reach his eyes.

"You're right. Worrying will get us nowhere."

The copy ninja's gaze lingers on the door where Sakura is sleeping. He wants to go in there. He wants to wake her up and demand to know when they started. Kakashi wants to know how and where.

But most of all, he needs to know why.

Why did she crawl into his bed when clearly she belonged in someone else's?

Why did she come to stay when she was never really there to begin with?

Was Sakura thinking about Yamato while Kakashi made the best love he has ever made to a woman to her?

The thought twists into acid, coating his insides until he feels physically unable to stand any longer.

"Listen, Shikamaru, I have to go take care of a few things," says the shinobi casually, almost lightly.

Kakashi has always been a good liar.

"Keep an eye out for Naruto and Sakura and let me know if anything happens?" Kakashi asks as he turns on his heels. The chunin nods and Kakashi starts to take his leave. Naruto acknowledges his sensei as he passes by, going quickly back to thinking and worrying while Sai watches curiously from the corner of his eye.

"I'll be back later," he calls to the both of them, giving a lazy wave over his shoulder.

The hospital doors shut softly behind Kakashi and he waits until he gets to the gate so he can turn the corner.

Once completely out of sight, Kakashi does what he does best; he runs.

He runs until the hospital is far behind him. The copy ninja runs until he passes his house. Then Yamato's. Then Sakura's.

He sprints as fast he can, angry that he can't outrace something that's inside of him.

The shame is about to eat him alive.

* * *

Yamato flinched as the enemy's medical ninja healed the burns from his body.

It became a rather repetitive cycle.

Shock them, drown them, crush them, burn them.

Heal their broken bodies. Then do it all over again.

The cage jutsu that the three of them were captured in ate away at any chakra that they tried to build up, making it nearly impossible to form an escape plan when Yamato barely had it in him to stay conscious. His skin was raw, the nerves drawn out and exposed before the sloppy medical ninjutsu overlapped brand new flesh over the charred remains, flushing out infection and scars. Most of the time.

From his left, Raido's routine began again. He writhed on the ground of the cave, gargling and spitting as the shock of lightning set his blood on fire.

From his right, Akira drowns for the hundredth time in the past few days.

"Stop," rasps Yamato. "Let them go. They don't know anything." He grips the wrist of the ninja healing him and gets a punch to the jaw in return. He feels it break beneath the force once again.

The captain turns over on his side and holds his shattered face in his hand. But he refuses to cry out. He resigns himself to shouldering the pain silently and passively.

His cage regenerates around him and Yamato wants to scream.

But before he can even open his mouth to do so, the cage crackles and lightning strikes him. Yamato falls back from his sitting position and waits it out, grinding his teeth despite the sharp ache in his mouth. His muscles spasm and his body clenches and unclenches, jolting from the joules upon joules of energy coursing through him.

"Your body can't stand this much damage and sudden repair, Yamato of the Leaf. Give us the information we want," the enemy leader purrs as he sends an extra charged surge through the captain which nearly throws him to the opposite side of the cage. "And I will let you live."

The lightning stops and Yamato sucks in a breath, keeled over on his hands and knees as he tries to both breathe and not puke at the same time. His arms tremble, barely able to withstand his own weight. Sweat coats his shoulders and his back.

"Do you know what happened," Yamato pants, "to the last man who tried to take the Nine Tails from the Hidden Leaf? You will meet the same fate."

Yoshirou laughs. The captain collapses and rolls onto his back to watch his captor grin and chuckle, one hand still holding the cage together. The man has long jet black hair nearly to his waist and cold blue eyes. A thick scar runs from the corner of his mouth down to his neck.

Yoshirou Tanaka, rogue ninja of Jōmae, the Lock Village.

The captain has been studying his movements, his quirks, his words closely for the past few days. He wants Raido and Akira to only worry about surviving.

"You silly little man," coos Yoshirou as the cage begins to fill up with water. Yamato can only sit and watch, knowing that he will drown. Although he refuses to show it, panic grips him in his chest. "I don't want to capture the Nine Tails. I just want to know his weak spots. I want to know what makes him tick."

The water has reached Yamato's waist as he struggles to his feet. He's too tired to tread water. Already, the captain can feel his body protesting.

"No one in the village, or any affiliated with the Leaf, will give you what you want on Naruto," spits Raido as he nurses a crushed arm and ankle from inside his cage. His captor, the gorilla looking man named Kenta who beat Yamato within an inch of his life upon capture, has left Raido's face cut up and sliced until it festers with infection. Yamato grits his teeth.

Yoshirou chuckles, jerking his head to Kenta. The man releases his chakra cage only to stomp on Raido's already shattered ankle. He howls in pain.

"That's fine. The Lock Village will get info on the Uzumaki child one way or another. If you don't want to double cross your teammate," the enemy leader pulls the crumpled picture of Team Kakashi from his pocket and looks at, smirking, "I understand. But I doubt that unwavering loyalty passes on to other shinobi less beloved than the jinchuuriki. Kakashi of the Sharingan, Shikamaru Nara, the Inuzuka clan, the two young Hyuuga brats, Ibiki Morino, Inoichi Yamanaka and his pretty young daughter, Shikaku Nara, the strangely creep Aburame clan, the list goes on."

Yamato presses his face to the top of the cage, trying to catch every last breath that he can before the water completely devours him.

"Why do you need that much intel? And why from us?" Yamato sputters as the water starts to pass over his chin. He doesn't have much time.

"The Lock Village is unparalleled in espionage. A small, overlooked village of incredible shinobi. While the eyes of the Great Nations have been averted elsewhere, we have been raising an army. And we will find the weak spot of every single shinobi in the Leaf until not one soldier can stand against us."

Akira, moaning and gasping after a lightning strike, calls out to Yoshirou,

"We'd rather die!"

"That can be arranged, young Akira, don't you worry. But first, I will break your body."

Yamato's head is completely submerged in water. His lungs burn with the effort of holding his last breath. He watches Yoshirou's lips move as he talks with Akira. Yamato begins to see spots in his vision. A ninja's training to hold their breath is exceptional but it doesn't last forever.

Especially with no chakra.

"My friend's and I have created the ultimate torture chamber, driving your bodies to the physical and psychological breaking points. You have been here for days. There is a limit to how much more you can take." Yoshirou grins slyly, eyes flickering to Yamato who just opened his mouth to let water into his lungs. "And once they are broken, once they are unable to hold up the existence of your wretched lives, we will break into your minds and take what we need."

Akira throws himself against the side of his cage, the chakra force throwing him back. He snaps his eyes up to Yoshirou and growls,

"Then what is the point of asking us to give in if you're just going to break us anyway! You're wasting your breath!"

Yoshirou laughs, nodding his head to Akira's captor, a tall lanky man by the name of Hiro. The subordinate of the enemy releases his chakra cage to grab Akira by the throat, choking him until the boy gasps and claws at the wrists of Hiro. The boy's dulling blue eyes stare up at Yoshirou who is releasing the water from Yamato's cage. The captain lays unconscious on the ground, nearly blue in the face as his captor releases the jutsu to allow the medical ninja to revive him.

"I want you all to die knowing that with your last pitiful breath, you sold out your own comrades."

Yoshirou laughs as he watches Akira fade from consciousness, Hiro seemingly choking the life out of him while Raido recovers from his latest shock of lightning.

"I want that kid close to death, do you hear me!" Yoshirou shouts at Hiro who has reformed his cage around Akira. The man nods, acknowledging the order of his superior, and sends fire down into Akira's cage until he is screaming.

Raido repeatedly throws himself against his own confinement, not being able to stand listening to the youngest member of his team howl and cry beneath the burn of fire. He can smell the charring flesh of his teammate and it makes Raido keel over and heave.

If only there was anything left in his stomach to throw up. He can't remember the last time they had been fed.

Akira writhes and thrashes, trying to put out the flames encompassing his body while Hiro, Kenta and Yoshirou watch, amused at the little jonin's attempt to save himself.

That's when Yamato's eyes fly open.

"Ninja Art: Wood Release!"

His right hand turns into a wooden spear which he runs through the medical ninja. He topples over and Yamato uses his body as a shield for the kunai that Yoshirou has thrown at him. Yamato prints to Kenta and sides weeps his legs out from under him, causing the disruption of Raido's cage.

"Get up and fight!" Yamato orders, even though he can barely stand himself.

Raido stomps onto Kenta's jaw until it breaks, throwing his elbow into the man's throat until he sputters. With the little amount of chakra that he has been able to accumulate in these past few moments, he summons a sword using his kenjutsu to cut off the enemy's right hand. The hand that held him captive.

Hiro releases his hold on Akira and sends a boulder from the ground flying into Yamato's side. His body still weak and unable to react as quickly, takes the hit in his right arm which cracks and splinters until the bone sticks out from Yamato's skin. The impact sends him flying several feet away.

Raido takes this opportunity to lock into battle with Hiro.

Yamato gives a growling cry and staggers to his feet.

Yoshirou throws his head back and laughs.

"Oh little Yamato, is that all you can muster? That pathetic wood spear and some half-assed taijutsu? I assume you're out of chakra already and the damage that you have done to my team," he jerks his head to the dead medical ninja, "is replaceable. Give up, boy. Your escape plan was a cute attempt. But you can barely stand on your feet!"

Yamato had blinked and it was his biggest mistake. A master of weapons, Yoshirou had unrolled a scroll from his belt and a produced a large windmill shuriken that was now lodged into Yamato's stomach.

The pain set the captain's body on fire and he drops to his knees by Akira. The boy's eyes, after not being able to be healed of his burns, have gone still. Yamato howls.

"Captain!" cries Raido, struggling to keep up with Hiro. His resolve has all but vanished.

Blood drips onto the ground in puddles as Yamato presses his hand to his external wound.

"You've lost, boy. Give up!"

Yoshirou gives a swift kick to Yamato's chest and it collapses his right lung.

He stares up at the enemy leader, wheezing as he tries to get his airways to work.

The enemy squats down beside Yamato. He grabs a fistful of his hair, tugging his head back as he slams his fist into Yamato's jaw, once, twice, three times-it shatters at a greater magnitude than earlier.

"The Leaf Village will fall by the hands of the Lock Village and all will blame the wood-user Captain Yamato and his spineless team." The man's cold blue eyes gleam as he watches Yamato cough up blood, his hands struggling to put pressure on his own wound. "What does it feel like, boy? To be the traitor of Konoha. I will tell them. I will give them all the gory details of how the great Captain squealed the Village's secrets like a pig." He takes Yamato's jaw in his hand to make the leaf shinobi look at him. The bones crush and grind against one another as Yoshirou clenches his grip. "What do you say, boy? Are you ready to die?"

Yamato looks up into the eyes of his enemy.

And he spits in his face.

"Fuck you."

Yamato does a quick hand sign and trees roots burst up from the ground, binding Yoshirou and Hiro's feet. The flexible, crushing wood slithers up the limbs of the enemy, binding them together until both men are held captive on the ground, angrily sputtering and squirming.

"This is impossible, how do you have so much chakra!" cries Yoshirou, struggling against the hold of the Wood Release.

Yamato, to his agony, gets up and limps over to Akira. He grabs the dead boy by his flak jacket while Raido stands next to his captain. The two of them start performing hand signs, slow and almost blindly as their vision blurs in and out of focus.

The Captain points to the roots that are binding the enemy.

"Nature is on my side, gentlemen. Those tree roots have been storing away what little chakra I was able to build up during my healing intervals on the ground. They sank into my body from beneath me and leaked away the chakra before your cage could, saving it for the perfect moment to return it to me."

Yoshirou cries angrily, blood lust in his cold eyes as he thrashes around, trying to free himself.

"But you're still too weak to kill us! I will have the Leaf Village! And when I do, Yamato, I will take your head as a fucking prize to hang on my wall!"

Raido completes the last hand sign and he grabs onto Yamato's shoulder.

A string of letters and seals travel up the lengths of both their arms, glowing a bright yellow.

"That can't be right!" Hiro's eyes widen as he's nearly blinded by the light of their jutsu. "That's the Flying Thunder God Technique!"

Yoshirou nearly foams at the mouth with rage. He begins to snap Yamato's wooden bindings, piece by piece.

"I'll slaughter you," he seethes, "I will find you, cut you open and gut you like a fish!" Yoshirou stands, beginning to break the bindings on his arms. He gets ready to perform hand signs.

Yamato sees Sakura's jade green eyes flash before him. He narrows his eyes at the enemy in return.

"Not if I find you first."

And in an instant, Yamato, Raido, and a lifeless Akira, disappear onwards to Konoha.

* * *

There's the beeping of machines, the slow, even current of oxygen flowing into his lungs, and the small, smooth hand holding his against the comfortable, yet slightly itchy, sheets of a hospital bed.

Yamato opens his eyes and squints at the bright hazy light of sunset peeking in through the blinds. The walls are plain and achingly white. But a vase of flowers blurs and then focuses in his line of vision, sitting quietly on the edge of his nightstand, when he turns his head to look at the person sleeping against his leg.

The unmistakable pink of Sakura's hair, her cheeks stained with dry tears, slumps forward onto his hospital bed, sound asleep. Her delicate fingers intertwine with his loosely and she snores quietly, her head resting against his thigh.

If Yamato had the strength to, he would haul her into this bed and crush her to him.

How many times did he think that those fleeting moments in the hospital, before setting off on that wretched mission, were going to be the last time he would ever see her?

But she's there, in the tired, aching flesh, sleeping against him and Yamato could get on his knees and thank the gods that he lived to see another day where Sakura Haruno wanted him enough to wait by his bed until he woke up.

The captain fumbles with his oxygen mask, peeling it off his face. He breathes in the horrid smell of antiseptic and disease but he doesn't want to worry about that right now. His left hand, with all the strength that he can muster, squeezes her fingers.

"Sakura," he rasps. Yamato curses his dry throat and tries again. "Sakura."

The young kunoichi stirs, groaning something about Naruto being useless for wanting ramen again, and sits up. She rubs her eyes with her free hand and blinks at Yamato, clearing her sight to see him staring back at her.

Alive and awake.

His almond shaped eyes soften as she jumps up from her chair, nearly knocking the thing over. He attempts a smile but his jaw protests, a sharp sting of pain shooting down the length of it. He flinches and Sakura grabs his face gently. The waterworks have already started, her jade eyes leaking tears as she rubs her thumbs over his cheekbones. One hand smooths his messy brown hair back from his forehead as Yamato leans into his touch. Her lower lip trembles.

"Don't you-" she says haltingly in sobs, "Don't you ever do something like that again. Do you hear me? Or so help me god, I will kill you myself."

"I'm so sorry," he exclaims as she throws herself into his waiting arms. Yamato pretends not to notice the pain as he lifts her up into the bed to let her curl up there beside him. The girl cries, hard, against his shoulder and Yamato rubs her back soothingly. He plants kisses along her forehead, her shoulder, her wrists, anything that he can reach while he tells her over and over again how sorry he is.

"I thought you were going to die. I thought you were going to die today and I-"

_I slept with Kakashi Hatake last night._

Yamato holds her crying face in his hands, the right one enveloped in a cast, and he touches his forehead to hers.

"Sakura, I already told you." His lips touch hers, softly, and he smiles, ignoring the scream of discomfort snaking along his jaw. "I couldn't leave you even if I tried."

The kunochi gives a half-laugh, half-sob kind of sound that makes Yamato chuckle to himself, pulling Sakura into his chest where she clings to him by the front of his hospital shirt.

"How did you get back? Lady Hokage said that you were being held hostage and that they didn't know if they could reach you in time," she starts jabbering, trying to pull away to look up into his eyes.

Yamato reaches up and unties her forehead protector from underneath her hair.

The headband falls face down between them. Sakura traces the other recieving half of the Fourth Hokage's transportation jutsu which has been inscribed on the underside of it.

"I wanted to come home."

* * *

Kakashi watches from the window to Yamato's hospital room as Sakura cries herself to sleep in his arms. The man he calls friend strokes Sakura's back, his hand in her hair and his lips on her shoulder.

It makes Kakashi angry enough to want to throw something.

The kunoichi reaches up to kiss him and the captain kisses her back, his almond shaped eyes closed and relishing from the feel of Sakura's lips on his.

Kakashi would know that feeling because it happened in his bed last night.

The thought drives the copy ninja to turn on his heels and leave the Intensive Care Unit even though Naruto calls after him, telling him that Yamato is awake as the blonde peers in through the window that Kakashi was just standing at.

The sensei ignores his students and shoves the door open to jog down the stairs, desperate to get as far away from the image of Yamato kissing Sakura as he can.

Kurenai's words echo in his mind, leaving a bad taste in his mouth as he continues down the stairwell of the hospital.

He should be happy that Yamato is awake. He should be relieved that he doesn't have to bury another friend.

But the animal that they call jealousy rages inside Kakashi.

_We've already lost Genma, Kakashi. Don't lose her too. _


	8. Chapter 8

"Whoa," whispers Naruto. His eyes quiver beneath the modest stare of his captain as he rubs the back of his messy brown hair. "What happens next? Come on, tell me!"

The blonde eagerly inches his chair closer to the side of Yamato's hospital bed. Choji hastily shoves barbecue chips into his mouth, completely enraptured by the story of the jonin's capture while Shikamaru leans against the wall, arms crossed. He pretends that the whole story telling act is a drag when really, his ears have been tuned to catch every word of Yamato's tale. It's all too important to miss.

"Yeah, go on! Tell us!" cries Ino as she stands next to Shikamaru, her long ponytail snapping in his face when she nods excitedly for the older ninja to continue.

Yamato chuckles and smooths his bed sheets absently beneath his fingers.

"Well, I summoned the tree roots from the ground after realizing that Raido's fight with the shinobi Hiro wasn't going to last much longer. And I could feel what little strength I had beginning to drain as well. So the roots came sprawling up from the Earth," he imitates the action with his hands, mimicking gnarled tree roots sprouting from the ground, "and bound the enemies. Kenta had been incapacitated when Raido took his right hand. So the only two ninja that I had to worry about were tied up and unable to stop Raido and I from..._it_."

He lets the last word of his sentence hang ominously in the air, the suspense driving everyone's heads forward with anticipation. Even Shikamaru who had been previously rolling his eyes at Yamato's dramatics.

"Do what?!" Choji demands, clenching his empty chip bag tightly in his meaty hands. "What did you and Raido do?!"

Naruto nods, nearly hanging off the edge of his seat as Yamato gives a smirk, his almond shaped eyes glinting mischievously. The jinchuuriki nearly hums with excitement.

"We did…" A cliffhanger once again. Yamato takes a faux deep breath and Ino is nearly itching to hear it, shifting restlessly beside Shikamaru who glares at her troublesome demeanor. The captain lowers his voice to a mere rumble, making the fear face that causes Naruto to naturally cringe into himself.

"The Flying Thunder God Technique."

Choji gasps, completely crushing the potato chip bag in his hand while Naruto jumps back, nearly knocking his chair over in awe. Shikamaru smirks.

"Stop fooling us. That's the Fourth Hokage's famous jutsu that earned him the nickname of Konoha's Yellow Flash." The Nara boy, although he's turning into a young man as of lately, locks his hands behind his neck, elbows in the air as he raises an eyebrow at Yamato. "I think your story is getting a little unbelievable, Captain."

The ninja laughs, jerking his head to his teammate.

"Naruto here mastered the Rasengan. Even perfected Lord Fourth's Jutsu. Is it so unbelievable that I mastered it with partners who happen to be Raido and Gen-"

He stops at the name, tripping over it. That faint sting of grief curls up in his chest, refusing to be forgotten.

"I originally learned the technique in collaboration with Raido and Genma," he continues after a moment. "It's only possible if we work together."

"See? I knew there was a catch." Shikamaru gives a sly, lazy smirk to Yamato who is about to say something else when the door to his hospital room slides open.

"Alright guys, it's time to leave Captain Yamato alone. The man needs his rest."

Kakashi stands in the doorway before moving aside to lean against the wall. The young chunin mumble under their breath about the story just getting to the best part. Team 10 gets up to leave. Shikamaru takes Ino by the hand and heads for the door, Choji in tow.

"Thank you for stopping by, kids," Yamato says cheerfully, giving them a wave with his good hand.

Shikamaru nods, still smirking at the Captain, when Ino asks if they can go out to eat.

"No, you troublesome woman, because then I have to pay and you make me broke."

There's a collective whine amongst Ino and Choji as they pass Kakashi, heading out to the hall.

The silver haired ninja jerks his head towards the door, his one gray eye on Naruto.

"Come on, you too."

"But Kakashi sensei, I want to hear the rest of Yamato's storyyyyy!" He practically drags his heels across the room.

"I'm sure Yamato will be more than happy to accept visitors tomorrow, Naruto." The ninja pats his student on the shoulder as he passes by. The blonde gives a half-hearted wave to the both of them over his shoulder as he exits. The two men can hear his sandals pounding against the tile as he runs to catch up with the others. Kakashi slides the door shut once their voices fade out.

The captain leans back against his elevated hospital bed and gives the older ninja a small smile.

"Looks like you care about me after all. I was beginning to wonder when you were going to come by and see me. It's been nearly a week," he teases. Kakashi gives an apologetic laugh, rubbing the back of his silver head.

_I'm sorry, Yamato, I've been avoiding you because I slept with your girlfriend. But anyway, how's life?_

He swallows the words back down, the taste of them making it hard for Kakashi not to cringe as he approaches Yamato. The man's bruises are finally yellowing, his right arm and left ankle still in casts. No doubt the scar on his abdomen was too severe and large to heal properly, a permanent testament to his capture.

The copy ninja sighs and pulls up Naruto's seat, turning it backwards as he sits down. Kakashi throws one long leg on each side, making himself look at Yamato.

The man nearly died. He's an old friend and Kakashi reprimanded himself constantly for not acting like it. Eventually, the self-scolding forced him to muster the will to come visit Yamato.

"I was called away on a mission the day after your return," he says truthfully. The journey he had to make was a long one and Kakashi was thankful that he had time to get away from the Village. To recuperate and to mull over what needed to be said or done.

Kakashi isn't sure he can say anything he convinced himself to while away on that mission. Yamato still looks at his superior with respecting eyes and the copy ninja can barely stand it. His smile, his kind, unwavering gaze. His complete and utter ignorance of what happened in his bed while Yamato was a prisoner of what might soon be war.

The whole thing sets his teeth on edge.

But Kakashi has always been good at hiding.

"If you're just making up excuses for why you didn't come to see me, Kakashi senpai..."

The ninja's entire body nearly jolts with the term of respect.

But Kakashi recovers quickly before Yamato can notice and sighs, shaking his head. A small smile quirks up the corner of his mouth as the silver haired ninja sees a young, long haired Yamato in ANBU gear running towards him with that signature grin.

It only shoves the guilt farther down Kakashi's throat.

"What did I say about calling me senpai, _Tenzou_?"

The captain's eyes instantly slide to the door, making sure that no one is around to hear his real name. He scowls a little at Kakashi, shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Kakashiii," he half-whines. It makes the ninja smirk. "I already told you, you're not allowed to call me that."

The copy ninja puts up his hands in apology, chuckling.

"I'm sorry, Yamato, forgive me." After a few moments of soft laughter between the two, Kakashi's face suddenly grows serious. Yamato picks up on his change of mood and his eyes instantly drop down to the bed sheets clutched in his fingers.

"Yamato," he says, all the joking and old times sake pushed aside, "You need to talk about it. And not by retelling the story like a movie script to our subordinates. You need to talk to someone."

The captain's hand tremors once, nervously.

"I'm fine." His eyes raise to Kakashi's. "Really. These things happen. It's in the job description." He tries to give a smile but it falters on his mouth.

Always the calm, collected shinobi Yamato has been. With a smooth, rumbling voice and eyes that do not hold his pain hostage.

The other jonin shakes his head.

"You were kept for days, Yamato. Tortured, healed, and then tortured again. You hadn't had food or water for a time longer than most shinobi can easily handle. Those things don't happen often in peace eras."

"This peace era might come to an end soon. War could come to the Leaf and Jōmae if this hostility between the two continues."

"They took Genma from us," Kakashi replies, almost angrily. "And Akira. Right in front of your eyes while they broke your body down to shambles." The jonin pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. "Don't sit here talk to me about politics when I'm trying to talk about _you_," he tries again, more kindly. The younger ninja's stare doesn't waver from Kakashi's.

"I appreciate the concern, senpai. But really, I'm going to be alright." He gives Kakashi a smile. "There are more important things to worry about than if I'm going to survive this which is what I already did."

Kakashi's thoughts retreat back to a young Uchiha, a pretty medical ninja, and a kind yet powerful yellow blur known as his former sensei.

"It's surviving the survival that I'm worried about."

Yamato leans his head back and watches the ceiling. A few moments pass by in silence. But Kakashi has always been a patient man. He'll wait for Tenzou to make his own move.

"How was she?" he suddenly asks, sliding his eyes to the other ninja. "While I was away."

The question hits Kakashi like a lightning strike and it takes everything in his power not to blurt out everything on his mind when he thinks about Sakura.

Even her name leaves a succession of misbeats in his heart.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like that, Kakashi," Yamato says slowly when his companion doesn't reply. "I meant to tell you myself. I know she's your student and there's some," he searches for the right word, "lines that have been crossed but I take care of her. And I think-" Yamato's lips quiver in a smile, a boyish grin that Kakashi hasn't seen in a long time. "I think she loves me."

_Are you sure, Tenzou? Are you absolutely sure?_

"Sakura kept the whole thing very secret. Her and I spent a lot of time together over the past few weeks. Training, I mean." Kakashi struggles to keep the mental image of a moaning Sakura beneath him at bay. "And there were a few spaced out moments, a few mood swings that I couldn't quite name but she was okay."

_She missed you so much she crawled into my bed in the middle of the night. _

"And during the surgery?" Yamato presses.

The ninja gives a sigh and rubs his face tiredly. This conversation was exhausting.

"Distraught. Crying. Inconsolable." He gives a bitter chuckle and immediately wishes he could take it back.

"I'm sure you did everything you could to make her feel better. Don't stress it, Kakashi. She gets like that," he replies, misunderstanding.

The silver haired shinobi nearly snaps at Yamato that he knows her better than anyone in this village, and to not lecture him about his own student. But Yamato's kind, reassuring eyes halt the words on his tongue.

Shame once again curls up like a tailed beast in the pit of his stomach.

Kakashi can't take it anymore.

He can't stand Yamato looking at him like that with those goddamn meaningful eyes.

It makes him sick. He looks at the captain and all he sees is Sakura's green gaze staring back at him in the night as her pupils dilate, falling off the edge of the cliff and into his life.

But she never intended to stay.

He has to tell Yamato. The man can't go on living his life thinking Sakura loves him when she climbed into Kakashi's arms.

And Kakashi can't take another day being the only one who knows that she didn't mean it.

"Yamato," he croaks out. The words are coming and Kakashi can't do anything to stop them. "Listen…"

_Stop, Kakashi_, he growls to himself. _You're going to ruin their lives, stop it. _

_Why?_ he asks in return. _Why does he get to be saved?_

_Because you must shoulder this alone. Just like you have shouldered everything else alone. _

Sakura, sound asleep against his chest, flashes in his memory, his sharingan eye spinning behind his closed eyelid.

_But I don't want to do it alone._

"You need to know that-"

"Kakashi!" The door slides open roughly.

Both jonin look to the voice and immediately, Kakashi feels relieved.

And terrified at what he had almost done.

The Hokage marches into the room and practically drags Kakashi out by the collar.

"When I told you to get rid of Naruto and his friends, I didn't mean that you could stick around and chat! The man needs his rest!"

"Okay, okay, ow," Kakashi tries not to resist as Tsunade nearly shoves him into the hall.

"Bye, senpai," Yamato calls out, laughing as he tries to peer around the Hokage.

Kakashi, disheveled now, gives a small bow and apologizes to Tsunade who glares at him. She shuts the door to Yamato's room and begins to check his vitals and broken appendages.

The copy ninja lingers outside the door, watching.

"Bye, Tenzou."

* * *

Sakura climbs up the stairs of the hospital, a fresh vase of flowers from the Yamanaka's shop in her hands. She can barely see over the top of them. A bundle of white and pink lilies, freshly cut from the garden, are a complimentary gift from Ino's mother.

_"It's tiring work, isn't it?" asks the brunette, her silky honey eyes watching Sakura as she arranges the flowers in their glass vase. _

_ Sakura had been spacing out, her thoughts drifting to Kakashi. He's a shinobi fit enough to almost become Hokage. The man could go unseen if he wanted to. _

_ But his avoidance stings. _

_ "I'm sorry Mrs. Yamanaka, what were you saying?" asks Sakura, startled out of her own thoughts._

_ The mother of her sometimes best friend and eternal rival gives a knowing smile. _

_ "I used to have the same contemplative expression on my face a long time ago when I first became enraptured by Inoichi."_

_ "Oh." Yamato's face flashes before her eyes. "Right, of course." She fakes a smile. _

_ "I said it must be tiring work. To have the heart of another shinobi. I would know, dear."_

_ Sakura blushes, looking down at the flowers to hide her embarrassment. _

_ Damn, the entire village must know already._

_ "Is that Yamato fellow worth it, Sakura-chan? He's always been such a gentleman."_

_ The Yamanaka matriarch ties a white ribbon around the vase carefully, almost artfully, waiting for Sakura's reply. The girl smooths a lily petal between her fingers. _

_ "Oh yes," she finally says, a small smile on her pink lips when she thinks about the bruised but nevertheless handsome face of Yamato that will be waiting for her at the hospital. The thought, however, becomes tainted when she thinks about Kakashi's unmasked face, his lips crashing against hers desperately. Sakura swallows hard._

_ "He is most definitely worth it."_

_ Mrs. Yamanaka pushes away Sakura's hand, ultimately refusing her money. _

_ "The flowers are on the house, darling." She reaches over and touches Sakura's cheek lightly. "I know how exhausting it must be. But don't let him go."_

The pinkette sighs, trying to banish the conversation from her thoughts as she pushes her back against the door of the stairwell, opening it.

Damn that Mrs. Yamanaka. Always so perceptive.

There's a loud thunk and a curse as the edge of the door connects with somebody's nose while Sakura was lost in thought.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry-" Sakura begins to say rapidly, spinning around on her heels to face the man she had just carelessly injured.

The heavy door nearly smashes into her vase of flowers when Sakura freezes in her tracks.

With a deer in the headlight look on his face as well, Kakashi, holding his nose, stares back at her. Reflexively, his free hand reaches out and keeps the door from hitting her just in time.

The silence is deafening.

"Got me pretty good there," he says, awkwardly, as he rubs the bridge of his bruised nose. Kakashi attempts a smile but Sakura still stares horrified back at him. He clears his throat.

"Are you going to come into the hall or stand there all day?"

"Oh!" she exclaims, snapping out of it. "Right." She gives a nervous laugh and steps out of the doorway. Sakura comes dangerously close to him as they switch places, their arms brushing each other's when Kakashi tries to move out of her way. The air electrifies between them but they both choose to ignore it.

Neither of them knows what to do. Kakashi can feel heat creeping up his neck while Sakura shifts uncomfortably on her feet.

He rubs the back of his head nervously.

"Those from the Yamanaka's shop?" he asks finally, pointing to the flowers.

Sakura blinks away her surprise that he's still actually speaking to her and not completely trying to avoid her like he has been.

But that's always how Kakashi has been. Unpredictable.

"Yeah," she hums with fake enthusiasm. The silence is about to get unbearable again before Sakura remembers something. "Mrs. Yamanaka asked me to tell you if I ran into you anytime soon that Inoichi has been waiting for you to drop by."

"He has? Oh! Right. Those mission reports. I've been meaning to do them but I've been away the past couple of days. I must've forgotten." He gives the best smile that he can. "Duty called."

He's lying. Sakura can feel it.

Of course he's been avoiding her. Why shouldn't he? She deserves it.

"Right," she says dismissively. "Of course."

The both of them have no idea where to look. Sakura doesn't want to look at his face because she'll imagine what's beneath the mask and that doesn't make resisting the urge to lean closer to him easier. So she pretends to adjust the bow around the vase while Kakashi absently watches some shinobi exit into the stairwell, passing them by.

Silence stretches on once again.

But neither of them make any move to leave.

"Did you just come from seeing Yamato?" she asks, almost nervously as she realizes that he is waiting for her down the hall.

Kakashi catches the slight hitch in her throat when she mumbles her question.

It makes him angry. It makes him upset and jealous and terrified all at the same time.

"Yeah," he says casually. "I was just asking if he wanted to talk. About the incident, that is, before Tsunade kicked me out." He gives a faint chuckle, hoping to mask the storm raging inside him.

Sakura, thankfully, doesn't pick up on his shift in mood.

"Oh," she says, trying her best to hide the relief that just flooded through her previously tense shoulders. "I'm glad. He doesn't like to talk to me about it. Doesn't want me to worry. He says I'll get worry lines like Lady Tsunade."

She realizes she was rambling and instantly wants to take it back. Kakashi simply nods, shoving his hands into his pockets carefully.

_Go. Run to Yamato's door if you have to. Get away from Kakashi. _

_ Because if you don't, Sakura,_ she warns herself, _ You'll never want to leave him._

"I should go give these to him. He's expecting me," she suddenly blurts out.

A moment sluggishly passes by. Then two.

"Of course. I was just leaving anyway," he replies, jerking his head over his shoulder to the stairwell.

The kunoichi turns to go. Kakashi watches her back as she starts to head to Yamato's room.

"Hey," he calls out. Sakura's heart skips a beat.

She turns her head slightly, watching him from the corner of her green eye.

"It was nice to see you, Sakura." His words are slow, deliberate almost. And he rolls her name over his tongue smoothly.

It makes her right knee go weak.

But she refuses to respond. She refuses to give in to the charm that is Kakashi Hatake. Not this time.

The girl continues to walk to Yamato's door. The captain looks up from a book, as if he sensed her nearby, and smiles at her through the window.

When Sakura looks back at where Kakashi was supposed to be, the door to the stairwell swings shut.

And her heart drops down into her stomach.

* * *

"Please stay," whines Yamato as he watches her adjust his broken leg more comfortably on the pillow. "Both of us can fit here," he says, throwing back the bed sheet to emphasize his point.

Sakura only laughs, tucking the blankets around him comfortably. The sun had set a long time ago, shrouding Konoha in the cool autumn air. It was starting to develop a chill lately as November looms ahead. Yamato still had three more weeks to spend in the hospital before he could go home.

"No way, Yamato. I stayed your first night here and those pain meds make you snore."

"So?" he says slyly, leaning his head back against the bed as she smooths his hair away from his forehead. "You snore."

"I do not!" she says, annoyed. The captain automatically, as a basic instinct now, flinches when she raises her hand to give him a good slap upside the head.

But she can't bring herself to do it.

Sakura knows that's not why she doesn't want to stay.

She slept in Yamato's arms his first night in the hospital. And she stayed awake the entire time.

Because she didn't feel Yamato's arms around her.

She felt Kakashi's breath against her neck, his silver hair tickling her shoulder, not his. And the sensation made her restless, made her feel like if she let her guard down for one moment, even a second, Yamato would just _know_ that something wasn't right.

"_Don't let him go," Mrs. Yamanaka whispers in her mind _

Yamato raises an eyebrow at his girlfriend when she doesn't strike him playfully like she should.

"Everything alright?"

Sakura snaps out of it, almost in a panic, and forces her face into a smile to put Yamato at ease.

"Nothing. Lady Tsunade just had me do a mountain of work today. Just tired is all," she lies.

But Yamato accepts this and settles down comfortably in his bed. She keeps running her delicate fingers through his hair until he closes his eyes, relaxed under her smooth touch.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" he mumbles, one almond eye opening slowly to look up at her.

Sakura shakes her head and leans down, planting a kiss on his temple. She attempts to straighten back up but Yamato reaches over and yanks her back down, pressing his lips to hers until he's satisfied.

The kunoichi kisses back, trying not to laugh. Yamato gives a chuckle and smiles against her pretty mouth, his hand curled up in her pink hair.

"Sakura?"

"Hmm?" she asks happily.

Her thumb traces the lines of his tender jaw gently, staring into his dark eyes.

"I love you."

His words nearly knock Sakura to her knees.

She looks seriously back at him, the smile now gone from her pale face, and tries to figure out if she heard him correctly.

Yamato's boyish grin quivers as he waits for her to say it back. Time ticks by and his insides start to twist uncomfortably.

Too much time passes, Sakura still enveloped in silence.

_Damn that Kakashi_, she thinks to herself. _Goddamn that Kakashi Hatake for taking this moment away from him. _

The captain is about to open his mouth to say something, obviously hurt, when Sakura crashes her lips against his.

"I love you," she whispers into his mouth, "I love you, I love you, I love you."

Yamato gives a half-laugh, half-sigh of relief, curling Sakura into his arms as best he can. He buries his face in her neck and happily chuckles.

"For a second there I thought you were going to leave me out in the cold."

The captain trails kisses over her collarbone while Sakura stares blankly at the wall over his shoulder.

_I am so sorry, Yamato. _

_So sorry._

* * *

Kiba leans his hand over to pour Sakura another round when he notices her glass is still full.

"What the hell, Haruno? Since when did you decide to stop participating in Friday Fun-Day?"

She snaps out of her thoughts and gives a sheepish smile to the Inuzuka boy sitting next to her. Her shaky fingers pick up the drink and she knocks it back in one gulp. Kiba gives her a wink, grinning with his sharp canines, and pours her another round.

"No, you idiot," he suddenly calls across the table to Naruto, "Akamaru cannot have sake!"

The blonde groans loudly and snatches his hand away before the dog's long tongue can lap up the alcohol. He whines.

"Come on, Kiba, why nottt?"

"Because I said so!"

Ino rolls her eyes and snuggles closer to Shikamaru. He glances sideways at the girl and tries to act annoyed. But even Sakura can see the little smirk curling up the corner of his mouth.

"You guys are cute together," Sakura says quietly to the two of them.

They look at each other and then back to their friend whose cheeks are looking a little flushed. Shikamaru raises an eyebrow at the bottle in Sakura's hand.

Ino starts to chatter on about how she never thought she would end up with Shikamaru's lazy ass but destiny has a funny way of working out in everyone's favor. Sakura's childhood friend keeps moving her mouth but she's stopped listening. And Shikamaru, always the attentive one, notices.

"Hey," he says when Ino's attention has turned to Tenten showing off her new specialized kunai. The Nara boy kicks Sakura's ankle lightly under the table to get her notice him.

Her green eyes swivel over to meet his and Shikamaru's handsome face grows concerned.

"You alright, cherry?"

Sakura laughs, a little drunkenly.

"That's how I know the sake is getting to you. When you start calling me cherry."

The boy grins and huffs something about women always being so troublesome. "So are you gonna tell me what's going on or not?"

Sakura is about to open her mouth when Neji shouts at Lee to put some old man down, insisting that no one in the bar wants to do karaoke with him, distracting both her and Shikamaru.

"I'm just tired," she lies, rubbing her eye with the heel of her palm. "I think I'm gonna head home."

The kunoichi gets up to leave. Naruto whines about Sakura going so early, even though it is almost midnight, but she ignores him. She climbs over Kiba and waves goodbye to everyone. On her way out, Lee sings her a lullaby from atop a table, his eyes droopy and awestruck.

Everyone goes back to their conversations except for Shikamaru who stares at the spot where Sakura was just sitting.

_That's can't be good,_ he thinks to himself.

* * *

_"I love you."_

_ Yamato's kind eyes stare into hers as she freezes up with fear. _

_ "Sakura, I love you."_

The words bounce painfully around inside her head as she sluggishly walks to her house. The moon as her only companion stares down at her, accusingly.

_"For a second there I thought you were going to leave me out in the cold."_

Sakura wipes the tear slipping down her cheek away quickly.

No crying. Shinobi don't cry.

She wraps her arms around herself as a chilly October breeze passes her by.

Kakashi's stormy gray orb stares back at her, even when Sakura closes her eyes.

"Goddammit," she curses to herself. "Goddammit."

Her hands curl into fists.

_"Can I stay the night?" she asks Kakashi, curled up in his strong arms. A painted fingernail traces the edges of an old battle scar along his bicep. _

_ "Sakura," he mumbles against her neck, "You can stay as long as you like."_

The kunoichi snaps her head up angrily and starts sprinting.

She runs past her house, takes a left, and then a right, and hurries up the stairs of an apartment complex.

Sakura skids a corner, slipping over to the right side of the building, where she halts in front of a door and pounds on it.

The neighbor's light comes on but she doesn't care.

Sakura keeps slamming her fist against the hard metallic surface until it's bruised.

She's about to bring her infuriated hand down onto it again when it opens up and her fist almost connects with his chest.

Kakashi slips his mask over his face, his one gray eye sleepy while the sharingan remains shut. Alertness takes over his body and he stares at her, concerned.

Sakura doesn't know when she started crying but hot tears spill over her cheeks as Kakashi towers over her.

"Hey," he says quietly. "Are you alright?"

The girl doesn't respond. She tries to talk but the lump in her throat has grown too large. Her shoulders begin to shake with the effort of keeping her sobbing under control.

How dare he stand there like that. So calm and collected, like always. As if they didn't do what they did. As if the world is still spinning correctly and he's nothing but a concerned sensei watching his student sniffle and cry like a weakling.

How dare he.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" he asks again. His ungloved hand reaches to wipe the wetness from her right cheek.

And she just loses it.

SMACK.

Kakashi's face whips to the side. The entire village must've heard that slap.

The sting of it races down to his whole body. He slowly turns his head back to face her and she trembles.

"He loves me, Kakashi. He fucking loves me and you stole that from him! You took that away from him! 'It was nice to see you, Sakura'? What kind of pathetic, bullshit pretending is that! How dare you avoid me for an entire week, acting like it never happened, and then talk to me like it was some fucking charity! God, I hate you. I HATE you."

Her hand pulls back to hit him again but Kakashi grabs her wrist and pulls her inside.

"Let go of me!" she cries.

He slams the door shut behind them with his foot. Sakura continues to struggle and in response, Kakashi pushes her back against the door. The kunoichi fights him but Kakashi is quicker, he captures her other wrist and pins both of them up in his one hand.

The other comes up and tears down his mask so he's face to face with her. Her handprint is slapped red onto his cheek. Sakura instantly regrets hitting him.

"You thought I was avoiding you? Sakura, I told you I was sent on a mission. I don't lie," he growls through grit teeth. "You want to come to _my_ house and tell _me _how fucked up I am? I already know how messed up I am, Sakura. This entire village knows how messed up I have always been. But what about you?"

The anger is spilling out of him and he can't stop it. Being so close to her winds him up and sets him off like a firecracker. Kakashi burns beneath her shaky green stare. And he can't control it.

"What about you?" he asks again. "You showed up here, you drank my sake, and you crawled into my bed of your own free will. I didn't take anything from you or from _him_. You slept with me perfectly knowing that you didn't belong anywhere near here. And that, my dear student, is on _you._"

The tears keep coming down as Sakura stares into the face of a Kakashi she has never met. Fiery, burning, passionate Kakashi.

The one who only lurks in the privacy of his own home. How long has he been hiding this version of himself? How many people see the splintered shadow of the man who almost became Hokage?

His words sting but she suspects the sharpness of her slap stings even worse.

"How could you do that to me, Sakura?" His voice changes, almost cracking. Almost. "Tenzou is my friend, a good friend. And you made me betray him. Do you have any idea how fucking sick that makes me? I can't even look at you but that's all I ever want to do."

He lets go of her wrists and grabs her face gently between his hands.

Droplets of her anger and now her shame spill over his knuckles and onto the floor.

"I can't be in the same room as him because I am so ashamed yet at the same time I am so _furious _at him." He gives a dark chuckle and leans his forehead against hers. "He almost died and for a moment, for the briefest of seconds as you sobbed into my arms while he went into surgery, I wish he had."

Her jade eyes go wide and Kakashi drops his head to her shoulder, unable to look at her any longer.

Sakura shouldn't have come here. This hurts too much. She should've stayed as far away from Kakashi as she could.

Because all she wants to do now is shatter with him. Just like they did that night.

He takes a quivering breath before making himself looking at her.

"I'm a shinobi, Sakura. He's my comrade and I wished, even if it was only for a moment, that he had died in the field because he has what I want."

His thumbs trace the delicate shape of her cheekbones before moving his hands up into her hair.

"_You _gave me something and then took it back like it was _nothing._ You cried in my arms for him like the night before was just a bad dream that you wanted to go away. So don't you dare tell me that I stole from him because he got to keep you."

She tries to tear her eyes away from him but Kakashi cups her chin in his hand and makes her look back at him.

"If you hate me so much, why are you here?"

The question rattles Sakura to her core. She parts her lips to try and form an answer.

Sakura already has one. But she refuses to say it. She refuses to admit what he already knows.

Kakashi has always been so perceptive.

His lips crash against hers like the tidal wave that they are and Sakura can't help but kiss back.

Her hands curl tightly in his hair and he crushes her to him until neither of them can breathe.

Sensei and student kiss passionately, adoringly, and if they didn't know any better, almost ruefully.

But it doesn't last long.

"_Please stay with me," Yamato whines. His dark almond eyes stare up at her while his thumb traces the little crescent shaped scar that he loves so much on the underside of her wrist. _

Sakura shoves Kakashi away.

"If you tell him, or anyone, Kakashi Hatake...I will never forgive you."

The kunoichi yanks his door open and disappears back into the night, slamming it behind her.

Kakashi stares at where she had just been standing for a long time before he finally decides to turn off the light and go back to sleep.

Her wet green eyes stare back at him, even in the solitude of his own bed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note: Thank you all so much for your reviews! It means a great deal to me. **

**But let me warn you all now, things are gonna start picking up speed very, very soon. Prepare yourselves.**

**Love, Rae.**

* * *

Might Guy sleeps soundly in his apartment. The jonin sprawls out on the bed, mouth slightly open as he snores. He had just gotten back from the Land of Waves an hour ago. Almost as soon as he entered the door, the ninja collapsed onto his sheets, not even bothering to take off his flak jacket, and passed out.

He dreams of sandy beaches and a beautiful faceless red head. A smile twitches on his lips.

That is, until his bedroom window slides open.

Guy's instincts kick in immediately and he gives a holler, jolting out of bed and sending a roundhouse kick to the intruder's face. It's blocked easily with a chuckle. The faint, familiar sound of his eternal rival.

"Hey," says Kakashi with a light wave. He perches in Guy's window like a cat, the full moon shining bright behind his silver head. The other ninja grins.

"Well, well, if it isn't Kakashi." He holds out his fist and the copy ninja bumps it, slapping their palms together carelessly in their usual handshake. "It's a bit late for a stroll, isn't it?" asks Guy, resting his hands on his hips.

"Nah. The night is still young." Kakashi rubs the back of his head. "You up for a challenge?"

Guy's mouth gapes open slightly even though his spine tingles with excitement. A new surge of energy rustles him for his tired demeanor. The jonin begins to stretch out his hamstrings.

"I'm always up for a challenge! And even though I just got back from another grueling mission, I will accept and beat you while I'm at it."

Kakashi laughs and steps outside, hanging onto the edge of Guy's apartment by the skinny ledge with his heels. His rival, and most trusted friend, climbs out after him.

"Smell that November air, Kakashi," the Beast of Konoha says as a cold breeze passes them by. He gives a sparkling smile to his companion. "Perfect night to even out our score. Where do we currently stand?"

"62-60. Up by two." The silver haired ninja gives a smug smile.

"Then I shall even out the score right now and then tomorrow, I will challenge you again until I am able to bring us to a tie!" Guy looks hopefully off into the distance, a fist clenched in front of him like a promise. He shakes his bowl cut hair from his big eyes and gives a smirk. "So what're we doing, a race, an eating contest, a drinking game? Come on, Kakashi, tell me." The jonin nearly bounces with excitement.

The copy ninja looks out at the village and stares at the face of Minato carved upon the side of Hokage Mountain, the moon casting shadows across the imprint of his departed sensei's face.

He wonders if Sakura is still awake.

"A one handed climb, with no feet, up the side of Hokage Mountain." The ninja points a gloved hand to their destination. "The race to the top begins from here."

Guy gives a loud whoop and takes a starting position. "Sorry my old friend, but you're gonna eat my dust today!"

Kakashi crouches into a similar stance. He grins.

"On my count. One…Two…"

His hidden sharingan spins from beneath his headband. It only ever shows him captured moments of Sakura. But right now, it dilates in anticipation.

"Three!"

The two jonin leap from the side of Guy's apartment and hit the ground running. Kakashi ducks as a pub sign swings dangerously close to his head when he scales over the side of a building. The Beast of Konoha gives a grunt and picks up the pace, speeding a few feet ahead of Kakashi who jumps down from the face of the nearest house and onto the road. His lungs burn and he forces his feet to move faster until he's neck and neck with Guy.

"You're a little slow today. Tired?" Kakashi mocks.

The silver haired ninja gives a smug smirk and administers chakra down to his legs, making them pump faster as they race through the quiet village.

They pass by Sakura's house and the lights are off in her bedroom. Not home.

"And you're a little distracted!" cries Guy as he passes up Kakashi once again.

The ninja curses and focuses his attention on the other shinobi's back, willing his feet to carry him farther. His muscles stretch and burn with the effort but it's not the run that will exhaust him.

He looks up at Hokage Mountain and laughs breathlessly.

Both ninja act like human spiders and give a long leap after ascending to the rooftops. Their limbs tread air and right before they're about to slam their bodies into rock, both jonin give a cry as they catch onto stone with only one hand.

They both hang there for a second, panting.

Guy gives a wink and a thumbs up with his free hand and starts climbing, forcing his body up into a jump using his core and legs before grabbing onto another hold with his dominant arm. Kakashi does the same, swinging his legs to give him greater momentum as he wills his bicep to hold his body weight between jumps.

The copy ninja looks over his shoulder at the village stretching out behind him and gives a chuckle.

Endorphins and adrenaline rush through him like a high and he pushes himself further, fixed on winning this challenge. His eyes glance sideways at Guy, nearly neck and neck with each other, and the two of them double their pace.

Kakashi's shoulder feels like it will pop out of the socket soon but he grits his teeth and keeps going, sweat pouring down his neck as he takes ragged breaths beneath his mask. Guy is having some trouble too but the jonin, both great shinobi of the Leaf, are far from giving in.

Guy's hold crumbles and the jonin drops a little length down. Kakashi smiles at him.

"See you at the finish line," he says casually.

Guy gives him a scrambling look and hurries to catch up. But Kakashi has already lifted himself onto Minato's stone nose.

The concentration it takes to not fall makes him stop thinking of her. The strain on his body makes his sharingan stop spitting out some of their stolen moments. The desire to win against Guy forces out his unwilling desire to lose to Yamato.

So he makes one last leap and hauls himself up onto the ledge of Hokage Mountain. Guy follows barely half a second behind.

The two of them collapse back onto the ground together, hands above their heads as they try to relieve the stitches in their sides. His right arm is going to be sore tomorrow; he can feel his bicep and forearm muscles twitch. The copy ninja turns a gray eye to Guy, sweat matting his silver hair to the back of his neck.

"63-60. You haven't been beaten by me this badly since we were kids. You're getting old, Guy."

"So are you my friend," pants the other jonin, reaching out his good arm blindly to find Kakashi's shoulder, giving it a pat. "So are you."

The two of them, exhausted and sticky, watch the ink black sky above them twinkle with dotted stars.

He can already feel the adrenaline fading, his heart pumping back to a normal rhythm. It makes his insides twist.

"When's the last time you slept, Kakashi?"

The ninja gives a shaky chuckle, his lungs still burning with the effort to breathe, and turns his head to look at his companion. Guy is already staring back at him, concern replacing the previous sour expression of losing.

Kakashi turns his gaze back to the sky. He knows the dark circles beneath his eye very well.

"I sleep. A few hours here and there."

Guy gives a slight "hmm". His shiny black hair flips back from his forehead after a breeze hits them. Kakashi shudders slightly.

He doesn't want to say it out loud. He doesn't want to admit to what rages inside of him.

But Kakashi has never had to. Guy understands the silence that envelops the two men, he always has.

It carries on like a deep thought out conversation even though not a word passes between them for a good while. Kakashi sits up and leans an elbow on his knee. He runs a hand through his unruly silver hair.

"You've always been one to dwell, my friend," Guy says, rising slowly from his back until he sits criss-cross atop Hokage Mountain with his best friend. The two watch the faint lights of the village wink back at them. Graveyard shift shinobi mill about and patrol, drunk people stumble out of pubs. In a few hours, the Hidden Leaf will be bustling and pulsing with life.

Kakashi wishes he could feel the same.

"You chew things over in your mind until they're worn down, every angle examined, every variable determined. It's what makes you a great shinobi." Guy slides his eyes over to Kakashi. "But it makes you a hardened man."

The copy ninja sighs and closes his eye.

"I assume Kurenai told you."

"She's worried about you, Kakashi. Genma was my friend too but this rage," Kakashi raises an eyebrow lazily. Leave it to Guy to pick up on the things that Kakashi tries so desperately to cover up. "This rage does not come with grief. It is bad energy, a poison in your spirit. I wanted to know."

"You could've just asked me."

"You wouldn't have told me," he shoots back easily but kindly. "Not until you were ready."

Kakashi rubs his face tiredly with his good hand.

"He's a good man, Guy. He deserves nothing but good in return."

"If anyone deserves anything good, Kakashi, it's you."

"I'm a traitor to my friend, and to my student. I deserve nothing."

"Except the shame?"

Kakashi's hand clenches into a fist because this happened accidentally. Guy being able to pinpoint his rival's thoughts to the exact magnitude and meaning. It happened as they grew older. He never meant for anyone to be able to read him like Guy does.

"I left her to fend for herself as a shinobi. Team 7 left one of our own behind. I'm a miserable sensei to her."

"Maybe that's half true. But Team 7 is solid in their own way. In ways that mine could not imagine. But this isn't about your teamwork or your shortcomings as a teacher. This is about you and her when the ninja gear is off and the door is closed."

Kakashi doesn't answer. Guy can already feel this conversation drawing to a close.

"She changed before my eyes. Petulant, infatuated, outrageously clever but not strong, little girl to an ambitious, powerful, and kind shinobi woman. When Rin put Obito's eye in my head, I could _see_." He holds his palms out in front of him, measuring the way he sees it with his regular eye. "One day Sakura is an annoying child and the next, she looks at me and-"

He lets the final words drop but they don't need to be said.

"She's a blossom of youth, no doubt."

Kakashi gives a half-hearted smile at this. Always the youth guru.

"It doesn't matter anymore. She keeps Yamato in the dark because she chooses him. He is powerful, handsome, young and-"

"Undamaged."

The word feels like acid but he nods. It was a good choice.

"He doesn't to hide from her."

"Neither do you."

_She sees you._

Guy gets up to stand, stretching his limbs. His shoulder pops and he winces. The Beast of Konoha shakes off the weight of this conversation, it down into his chest where he keeps all of Kakashi's secrets. He gives the copy ninja a grin.

"I challenge you tomorrow, my rival. I shall catch up to your score in no time at all!"

The jonin attempts to begin his scale down Hokage Mountain.

"Guy."

He looks back over his shoulder at his silver companion.

"If you were me?"

The ninja gives a sterling smile.

"I wouldn't lose," he answers simply.

Guy disappears down the side of Hokage Mountain, whooping as he goes.

It makes Kakashi chuckle as he leans back down against the top of Minato's head. He tucks his hands behind his silver hair and does what he knows best.

He dwells.

* * *

Yamato closes the newspaper and sets it on his lap. He leans his arms back and stretches, flexing his previously broken limb that now only has to be in a brace. The ninja takes a deep breath and smiles lightly. Man, it feels good to be back in his own home. A month in the hospital nearly took his sanity. He shivers at the thought of staying there a second longer when the front door creaks open.

Small feet tread upon the hardwood floor of the apartment, trying not to make a sound. It's nearly one in the morning and he can tell by her slow movements that she's exhausted. He can hear her rustle about in the kitchen, getting a glass of milk no doubt, so he waits patiently.

All the lights in the house are off except for his reading lamp beside the couch. Sakura enters with a rice ball in her mouth, sleepy green eyes, and a glass of milk.

"Tired?" he asks quietly.

Sakura flinches and drops her rice ball. She gives a low whine and hangs her head.

"That was the last one…"

She picks it up resentfully and goes back to the kitchen to toss it in the trash. Yamato's sharp ears pick up the sounds of her gulping down the last of her milk and washing the glass. He chuckles.

The girl hates watching dishes pile up in the sink. Despises it.

Sakura comes back into the living and immediately goes over to curl up in his lap. She tiredly sinks into him and he wraps his strong arms around her, kissing the top of her pink head as she leans it against his bare chest.

"Why are you still awake?" she asks sleepily.

He smiles as he mumbles against her forehead. "Waiting for you to get home."

"You should be resting," she says with a yawn. The girl leans her head back to look at him and he sighs.

"I am so tired of resting. If it weren't for Tsunade insisting that my leg is not ready for work, I would not be taking an extra week off."

Sakura groans and he pushes her hair back from her face gently, throwing his feet up on the coffee table.

"I wish I had a week off."

"This is the only good part about it," he says with a smirk, tightening his hold on her. The kunoichi smiles softly.

"Did you take your medicine today?"

"Mhmm," he mumbles as he trails kisses along her jawline to her mouth.

"Did you feed the cat?"

"We don't have a cat." He grins.

"Can we?"

"No," he laughs. "It'll tear up the furniture."

"It's okay. I like dogs better anyway."

The ninja laughs and kisses her, tucking strands of her pink locks behind her ear. Sakura kisses back happily, her arms locking around his neck.

"I was bored all day," he complains, leaning his forehead against hers.

"Being on leave doesn't mean you have to be lazy, Yamato," she says, a little sternly as she suspects from the take out containers near his lounging feet that he hasn't moved past the front door today.

"I know. Doing nothing is just not the same without you, my lazy queen," he says with a smirk.

"Ha, ha, ha," she replies sarcastically. "Tell that to Tsunade. She's got me working till I drop."

His almond eyes look back at her kindly, empathetically, and he rubs her shoulders and back with one hand, massaging his knuckles into her stiff muscles. The kunoichi closes her eyes and lets him unfurl the stress with his fingers.

"I was thinking," he starts.

One green iris opens slowly and she raises an eyebrow. "That's dangerous."

"Ha, ha, ha," he says, mimicking her earlier sass. It earns him a light punch in the gut. He rewards this with fingertips jabbing and tickling up her sides until she's squirming and giggling, gasping for breath.

"Okay, I surrender, I surrender!" she squeals after almost falling off the couch. He pulls her upright and she settles down back against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. With a flourish of her hand, she gestures, "Continue."

"I was thinking we should have the team over for dinner tomorrow."

Sakura nods, chewing this idea over. It's been awhile since she's seen either of the boys. Everyone has been so busy as of lately.

"Hopefully it will make them more...comfortable with the current situation of things."

He kisses her forehead and Sakura sighs. Naruto was rather pissed for a few days that she didn't tell him about dating their Captain. But the jinchuuriki quickly realized why it had to be that way and forgave her. His blonde eyes, however, do not hold back from giving Yamato sour looks every once in awhile.

Not that the boy loves her anymore. Those days are long gone, forgotten after his legendary battle with Pain. Hinata's confession seized him right out of his love for Sakura but he has yet to act on it. Too shy. Which is not like him. But girls kind of scare Naruto. Sakura might be to blame for that.

"Yeah, I'd love to have Naruto and Sai over for dinner," she says happily.

Yamato tilts his head to the side, looking at her a little confused.

"What?" she asks, just as confused now.

He chuckles and absently traces circles on her thigh.

"You're forgetting someone."

Her heart drops into her stomach when the silver haired ninja comes to mind. Sakura would like to pretend to herself and act like she hasn't thought about him in awhile. But as her insides twist, she knows better than to try and lie.

He's in every other thought when she's away from Yamato.

"Right," she says quietly. "How could I forget."

Yamato's eyebrow goes up. That was strange. He feels her entire mood shift beneath his hands. But the Captain overlooks it. The girl is exhausted after all.

"Don't worry about telling them, I'll do it tomorrow. I need to get out of this house anyway."

With that, Yamato stands, lifting Sakura up in his arms. She gives a chuckle but it's tight, detached almost as he carries her to the bedroom.

The kunoichi remembers Kakashi's arms around her, his beautiful lips crashing down on hers as he sweeps her up and takes her to bed. Sakura banishes the thought but is quickly confronted with the idea of her sensei sitting at the same table as her and Yamato, both her and Kakashi lying through their teeth as they pretend that they haven't been avoiding each other.

Or that she hit him. Or that she slept with him.

Yamato lays her down gently. He climbs in beside her after going to brush his teeth and wraps her up against him.

"Is something on your mind?" he whispers in the dark of the bedroom when he thinks of the strange flicker in her eyes from earlier.

But there's no answer. Yamato listens to the silence of her breathing and smiles softly. She fell asleep. The seeds of worry uproot themselves and the Captain dismisses it once again as exhaustion.

He wraps the covers around them and nuzzles his lips against her neck, mumbling a goodnight.

But Sakura is only pretending. She stares at the wall and tries not to panic at the thought of facing Kakashi under this roof while Yamato remains blissfully ignorant in his own home.

She sees the sharingan spinning at night every time she closes her eyes.

Even when Yamato's breath whispers her name against her spine.

* * *

But some things have yet to retreat back to normalcy.

Yamato twitches in his sleep. Sweat pours down his neck as he whimpers and mutters incoherently in the dark. He feels the sting of lightning biting his flesh. Water drowns him beneath a black starry sky while Akira's screams echo across the blank canvas of his dreams.

"No," he cries, "Stop, he's just a boy." But no one is listening. The incessant buzzing of the chakra cage's charge sends him crawling back into the pit of his mind where he is no shinobi. He is a man, a grieving wounded man who must've dreamt of being back home in Konoha. He never escaped. There is no escape.

Yamato howls out into his own head, feeling the weight of earth crush his spine until he can't move. And then comes the fire.

Except he sees Genma's face, shadowy and cold staring back at him as he breathes flames onto Yamato. It encompasses him, charring his flesh until he can see the white of his bones.

"Yamato!"

He can hear his name being called but just barely, the sound of his own agonized voice overpowering any other noise.

"Yamato, open your eyes!"

Sakura.

He wants to tell her to get away from this place. To run before she is captured.

Before she dies.

But the thought is interrupted as a hand comes bearing down on his cheek.

The Captain's eyes shoot open and he sucks in a breath, startling up into a sitting position.

His tshirt sticks to him with sweat and his hands tremble. He wants to cough, the ghost of water in his lungs still haunting him as he peers around at his bedroom.

Dawn barely breaks outside his window. And Sakura watches him, worry enveloping her face as she reaches out to touch him. The man flinches and she pulls her hand back. Not sure what to do, she simply sits and waits for his eyes to lose the wild expression.

"It was only a dream," he finally pants out, running his shaking hands through his hair. "Only a dream."

Yamato apologizes for scaring Sakura and she pulls him into her, kneeling on the bed so her arms capture him around his neck. The shinobi buries his face in her shoulder, relishing in her scent and softness. There is no fire, no burned flesh or smoke. Just Sakura. Always Sakura.

His arms tighten around her and he says over and over again that he loves her, trailing it like kisses across her collarbone and neck.

But Sakura can't help but feel that they sound more like 'I'm sorry' than 'I love you'.

She accepts them anyway, returning the words into his ear even though Sakura thinks she isn't the one he's saying sorry to.

She reminds herself to take flowers to Genma and Akira's graves today.

* * *

"Captain Yamato-" gasps Naruto, "I c-can't breath!"

The blonde struggles against the chokehold that he's currently captured in. With his free hand, Yamato slaps the chopsticks from the jinchuuriki's hand and they fall into the boy's fresh bowl of ramen. He gives an apologetic smile to Teuchi.

"I apologize for the commotion but Naruto forgot that he agreed to have dinner with his teammates tonight at my house," he tightens his grip around the boy's neck, "which I told him about this morning."

Naruto gives a raspy chuckle. "M-must've forgotten." He attempts a grin.

Teuchi waves them off with a laugh and Yamato gives a short bow before dragging the blue eyed boy from Ichiraku's. He lets Naruto go once they're outside and other shinobi raise an eyebrow at the two of them. Hands on his knees, he tries to catch his breath while Yamato stands rather triumphant, arms folded across his chest.

"I just saved you from Sakura's wrath, you should thank me."

"You made me forfeit Ichiraku, you get no such thing!" Naruto replies, pointing an accusatory finger back at his Captain.

He looks the older man up and down.

"Why are you dressed like civilian? It's weird, cut it out."

Yamato's eyebrow twitches.

"Because I'm still on leave," he mutters through his teeth. The Captain wears a simple pair of black pants, a white tshirt and a thin navy blue jacket. Naruto can't recall a time that he's ever seen Yamato outside of hospital gowns or ninja gear.

"Wow. You're an actual human being every once in awhile."

"Oh shut up," Yamato says, taking a swipe at his blonde head. The younger ninja ducks and gives a goofy grin as the two of them head off towards Yamato's apartment once again.

"Did you tell Kakashi to come?" the Captain asks.

Naruto tucks his hands behind his head and nods, humming his answer.

"He seemed kinda shifty today though. Like he didn't wanna come. But then I reminded him that he's old and has nothing better to do so he agreed."

Yamato laughs, giving Naruto a light shove in the arm.

"It isn't polite to talk to your sensei like that."

"But Captain Yamato, he is an old perv!"

"Kakashi is not old, Naruto." Yamato chuckles.

"Well you're not very young yourself either."

"Hey! I am 26, that is not old. I'm at the best age of my life."

"Uh yeah, but only because you're going downhill pretty soon," Naruto mumbles.

"Don't make me hurt you."

"Stop trying to act tough, I can see you limping!"

The two ninja continue on like this until they get to Yamato's. Naruto tries to race the captain up the stairs but the shinobi can't keep up. The boy was right, he does have a slight limp.

His young teammate waits for him at the top of the stairs, that smug grin on his face as he rests a hand on his hip.

"Sometime today would be nice!" Naruto taunts in a sing-song voice. The Captain gives him a good swat upside his head once he catches up. He ducks, laughing, when Naruto tries to hit him back.

"You're still too slow." Yamato chuckles and opens the door as the two men leave their sandals behind.

Naruto's mouth waters as he takes in a deep breath. He rubs his palms together excitedly as they trek through Yamato's hallway and turn into the kitchen.

"Oh man, Sakura-chan! It smells delicious in here." He gives an exaggerated sniff and tries to stick his hand into the pot to get a taste. Standing beside him, Sakura smacks his fingers with the end of her wooden spoon.

"Get your filthy hands away from the food, Naruto, and go wash up!"

The boy mumbles under his breath as he drags his feet to the bathroom. Once he's gone, Yamato wraps his arms around Sakura from behind. He kisses her cheek softly.

"This is so domestic of you. I like it," he purrs against her ear.

"Cut it out," she says with a forced laugh, pushing him away when there's a knock at the door. Her eyes slide over to watch the hallway. But it's only Sai. He gives a small smile and presents the host with a bottle of sake.

Yamato willingly lets go, chuckling to himself as he sets the table.

"There's glasses right there in that cabinet," he says to his quiet teammate. "No, the other one."

Sakura bites her lip as she stirs the stew. He's late, as always.

It makes her nervous.

"I'm rather looking forward to trying your cooking, Sakura. As long as they don't taste like those god awful food pills that Yamato throws away when you're not loo-" A strong hand slaps over Sai's mouth and he grins sheepishly at his girlfriend who turned around to glare at him, spoon at the ready to strike.

"He's just kidding, Sakura, I love your food pills, you know that," he says hurriedly, giving her a bright smile. Sai squirms his way out of Yamato's hold.

"Mhmm," she mutters.

The Captain opens his mouth to say something else when there's a knock on the door.

Sakura nearly drops her spoon into the stew.

She turns around to see who is going to get the door when she realizes that the boys are gone. In the living room, Sakura can hear Yamato and Naruto wrestling, probably arguing again while Sai watches. Sakura's beginning to think he rather enjoys watching them beat each other up.

"If you hurt him Naruto, I'm going to knock you into next week!" she hollers.

"Ow, watch the leg!" Yamato's deep voice rumbles. There's another set of knocks on the door. "Sakura, can you get that? I'm a little tied up here." Naruto yelps and something breaks and shatters.

Panic sweeps through her as she wipes her shaky hands on her apron. Sakura sets the spoon down and walks as slow as possible to the door.

It's too soon. Three weeks is too soon.

Sakura remembers the desperate kiss in his hallway. His hands on her and her fingers in his silver hair as she indulged in the high that is Kakashi. And now he's about to be standing under Yamato's roof. The guilt between the two of them will reek, she knows it. Yamato will figure it out or she'll give it away and it'll all be over.

The dread claws its way up into Sakura's throat when she swings the door open.

And of course, he stands there, casually, with his hands in his pockets. The breath catches in her throat as his scent of fresh cut grass and rain water washes over her. The air electrifies and grows heavy between the two of them as he's startled out of his thoughts by her apprehensive face. He didn't think it would be her to answer the door.

This is definitely too soon.

His one gray eye smiles at her as he rubs the back of his head. But it's forced, a cover up for the way his jawline twitches beneath his mask as it remembers the sting of her slap.

The two of them stand there, not saying anything, as they simply size each other up.

Longing and shame fills the space between them. Kakashi pulls, almost unnoticeably, at the hem of his mask as he pretends to scratch his nose. He can't breathe.

"Kakashi!" says Yamato happily from behind Sakura. She jumps with surprise and fakes her best smile.

"Sensei, come in, please," she chimes. The inner child in Kakashi wants to roll his eyes but he restrains himself. The two men shake hands and the copy ninja slips out of his sandals. Yamato leads the way into the apartment while Sakura keeps the door open for him. His eyes try to glance sideways at her but she looks down at her feet.

"Smells good, Yamato. I didn't know you could cook."

The younger ninja looks back at his friend and laughs.

"Not me. Sakura is the chef tonight."

The boys seat themselves around the table while Sakura serves them each a bowl of hot beef and potato stew with rice and egg. Yamato pours them all small glasses of sake to complete their meal. Politely, the men wait for Sakura to serve herself and sit down. Naruto is nearly drooling at the mouth.

"Thank you for the food!" the boys all say in unison before breaking their chopsticks apart to dig in. While everyone has their eyes averted to their own plates for the first bite, Kakashi, as always, expertly shoves the entire meal into his mouth before anyone can see. That is, except for Sakura. She hasn't taken her eyes off his face and she watches him slip his mask back up to where it belongs.

Her stare had lingered on his lips but then she meets his eye and quickly looks over at Yamato who raises his gaze to smile at her.

"Really delicious, darling."

The pet name causes a burning down Kakashi's throat that has nothing to do with the stew.

"Oh yeah, Sakura-chan! So good," purrs Naruto as he slurps his food. Sai nods in agreements, eating in polite nibbles and tastes.

"Got another week off, Yamato?" asks Kakashi conversationally. It makes Sakura's shoulders tense as she raises her chopsticks to her mouth.

"Sadly, yes."

"Ready to get back in the saddle?"

"Kakashi, I was ready two weeks ago."

The older shinobi laugh but Kakashi's smile doesn't reach his eyes.

This feels wrong. Completely wrong to be sitting under Yamato's roof, eating his food at his table while Sakura and her sensei share a deep shame that burns hotter than the stew on her tongue.

She glances at Kakashi whose chuckling at Naruto while he exaggeratedly tells a story. It's in his shoulders, the tense way he holds his hands on his knees beneath the table. Sakura studies the dark circles under his one gray orb and she wants to tell him that she can't sleep either. That she's sorry for hitting him. Their eyes meet for a moment but Sakura quickly drops her gaze.

_If you tell Yamato, or anyone, Kakashi Hatake. I will never forgive you._

"Oi, Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!"

"I'm sorry, what?" She turns her head to Naruto.

"I was asking you what jutsu you created with Kakashi sensei."

She looks at Yamato who is already looking back at her. His almond eyes watch her steadily. From beneath the table, his hand tremors once, nervously.

What did he see? What did he notice?

Sakura's body screams at her to look at Kakashi but she refuses. Yamato is studying her. She's being quiet and cautious in what should be the comfort of his home and their friends. The behavior is uncharacteristic and she knows it. They both do.

"It's an Earth style technique," Kakashi jumps in. "She completely cracks the earth open and then levitates the shards of rock and dirt into the air where she uses them as projectiles to aim at the enemy. Completely devised it on her own, I simply gave her a theory."

His foot kicks her lightly beneath the table. It's a warning.

Sakura jolts at the touch and then smiles sheepishly at everyone, blushing a little as she comes to life.

"He makes it sound so much easier than what it is, really. I couldn't have done it without him! I'll have to show it to you sometime, Naruto!"

The ninja agrees happily and starts talking about this new technique he's been working on. The five of them sit around and talk, laughing and drinking until it gets later in the evening. Kakashi and Sakura both try to be as friendly towards each other as possible, going out of their way to make conversation so that everything appears normal. She pours him and Yamato extra rounds of sake and asks her sensei if he's had any interesting missions lately while Yamato's attention is drawn to Sai. Kakashi asks how things at the hospital are and Sakura makes up something to complain about.

They pretend. They cover up and run their mouths, watching the clock.

The sake doesn't work. Kakashi's body is wound up, alert, and uncomfortable every time Yamato's eyes fall on him. But he smiles, he acts. The nonchalant, too cool Kakashi does not waver while Sakura plays the role of delighted hostess. Yamato's hand reaches over the table and takes hers absently.

The copy ninja sees this and grits his teeth.

"I'm gonna go wash the dishes," Sakura says after noticing the shift in Kakashi's mood. She slips her hand from Yamato's and stands.

"I'll help," he says happily, about to stand to follow Sakura into the kitchen.

"Don't even worry about it, Yamato, let me. Keep drinking. I've had enough for tonight."

He grins at his friend who thanks Kakashi and helps himself to another round. But he spits it out comically and laughs at an impression of Guy sensei that Naruto gives, causing the man to roar in amusement.

Kakashi leaves the ruckus behind and enters the kitchen. Sakura stands at the sink, hands on the counter, as she watches the water fill up the basin. Her eyes are far away and unfocused. The suds and water nearly overflow the sink but a gloved hand reaches over her and turns off the faucet.

Sakura sighs, knowing his presence from a mile away.

"Thank you for coming," she says in a low voice.

The jonin rolls up the sleeves of his shirt and dips his hands into the warm water, washing the dishes carefully. He hands them to her in silence so she can rinse.

"Don't mention it," he replies after a moment.

Sakura watches her reflection distort on the face of a dinner plate before putting it on the rack to dry. Their arms brush each other's as they work and Kakashi takes a deep breath. He says no words but the slightest movement of his shoulder against hers speaks louder than his voice.

"I'm sorry about the slap, it was-"

"It's alright. I deserved it."

His fingers brush over hers as he hands her a bowl. The water is beginning to get cold as they take their time.

Is this what their relationship will become? Soft, stolen touches at the sink when no one is looking? Forced interaction at dinner parties and missions where they to pretend to each other that Sakura does not lean into Kakashi every time she's near him?

The ninja lets the water drain as Sakura finishes rinsing the last few utensils he left for her. He leans against the counter and crosses his arms. Kakashi sighs, reaching over to tilt her chin up towards him.

"Sakura. We can't go on like this."

She shakes him off and goes back to running the same fork under the water over and over again.

"Like what? Everything is fine. We made a mistake."

"It wasn't a-" he drops his voice lower when he hears Yamato shout at Naruto to stop calling him old. "It wasn't a mistake. Not to me."

"That doesn't matter."

Her words sting. The ninja rubs his face tiredly.

"It does. Because you and I are not fine. And he is bound to notice that."

"Then we'll just have to try harder to make ourselves seem fine."

She shuts the water off, a little impatiently, and dries her hands on a towel. The kunoichi opens her mouth to say something else but she closes it as she stares up into his masked face. His stormy gray eye drops the drifting, detatched expression that he gives everyone else and looks at her sadly. She reaches her hand up to touch his face but pulls her hand back just as her thumb skims across his cheek.

"This is wrong, Kakashi."

The girl turns on her heels to leave but he grabs her by the wrist and pulls her back.

"What is? You and me or you lying to Yamato? Because I'm not so sure that you mean that."

"We can't keep doing this every single ti-"

"Do you love him?"

The words startle her. And for a second, her mind goes blank. But then she hears the rumble of his kind voice in the other room and she snatches her hand back from Kakashi.

"What kind of question is that?"

"You're not answering it so you tell me."

"What does it matter to you?"

"It matters everything to me."

They stare each other down in the kitchen. Kakashi reaches his hand to touch her face but he pulls it away just as he hears Naruto stumble into the kitchen. He holds the empty bottle up and belches.

"We're out of sake."

Sakura reaches into the cabinet, pushing Kakashi by the hip out of her way so she can reach. But it's too far up and she's already on her tippy-toes. The older shinobi reaches over her and takes the extra bottle from the shelf and hands it to Naruto. The jinchuuriki, without another word, goes back into the living room where Yamato complains that the boys are sucking him dry.

Once he's gone, Kakashi looks back to Sakura. She averts her eyes from his and bites her lip.

"Why can't you let it go?" she asks quietly. "Why can't you just let the whole thing die and be done with?"

The words wind Kakashi and he has to take a moment to catch his breath. His thumb traces the dark circles under her eye that she tries to cover with makeup.

"Why can't you?"

The kunoichi grabs his wrist and pulls his hand away from her face.

"You should go."

She drops her grip on him and Kakashi rubs the back of his head. He nods after a long, silent moment and follows after Sakura who leads him to the door. The shinobi slips on his sandals slowly as Sakura waits off to the side, arms crossed over her chest as if she's trying to hold herself together.

"You never answered my question, Sakura."

Her eyes snap up to his angrily and she yanks the door open.

"Please, sensei. Just go. I'll tell Yamato you had to run."

His heart sinks down into his stomach but he keeps a stoic face and steps out into the November air. He's not sure if it's the wind or the way she's looking at him that makes him shiver.

"We're not okay, Sakura. Three weeks of not speaking to each other doesn't make us fine."

The kunoichi looks down at her bare feet sadly. From somewhere inside, Yamato booms with laughter.

She stares up at him and she can feel the shame and sadness curling between the two of them until it makes the air heavy.

"I don't think we ever will be, Kakashi."

And with that, she shuts the door.

"_If you were me?" Kakashi asks. _

_Guy turns around and gives one of his sterling smiles. _

"_I wouldn't lose."_


	10. Chapter 10

"Are you alright?" Yamato asks. His almond eyes watch her closely as he leans against the doorway of the bedroom, arms tucked across his chest. "You were kinda off at dinner tonight."

Sakura swept up the shattered remains of the vase that him and Naruto broke during their wrestling match. The kunoichi wills herself not to react too suddenly. She corrals the shards of glass into the dust pan before turning to him with a light smile. Delicate fingers brush pink locks from her face.

"I'm great. Really."

Sakura goes to give him a kiss on the lips as she passes by him, disposing off the broken vase into the trash. She puts the broom and dust pan back where they belong and goes to stand in front of Yamato. His eyes are little clouded from the sake but not enough to make a difference. He's always been alot better at handling alcohol than she is.

The pinkette wraps her arms around Yamato's waist and he sighs, returning her embrace. They sway gently, quietly in the living room almost like they're dancing. He kisses the top of her head.

"You just haven't seemed like yourself lately." He pulls away and looks at her, the beginnings of a frown tugging at his lips. "Like you're a million miles away."

Sakura hugs him close to her as they shuffle their feet together across his floor. It's late and she's tired, more mentally than physically. She wishes Yamato would just drop the whole thing.

If only he knew. If only her Captain knew that she chose him. That she wants this life instead of another. Sakura wants slow dancing in the living room with nothing but their heartbeats for music. She traded Kakashi for this. Because leaving Yamato would've been too painful, too regretful.

_ Liar_, a voice hisses in the back of her head.

He chuckles and smooths the hair back from her forehead, tilting her chin up to look at him.

"You're doing it right now."

She needs to think of something and fast. Yamato is smart. Incredibly quick on his feet and responsive. Of course he's starting to notice. Sakura has worked alongside him long enough to know that he can sense things that are being left unsaid.

If she doesn't tread carefully, it'll all be over.

Sakura bites her lip. Her green eyes tremble lightly as she thinks of Kakashi's shoulder brushing up against hers as they wash dishes. She thinks of his rainwater scent and it makes her head swim.

"I've been thinking about him alot…"

Yamato cocks his head to the side. His eyes narrow suspiciously but only for a second. They revert back to their usual kind expression as he traces her cheek with the backs of his fingertips, understanding before she speaks..

"I can't get Sasuke Uchiha out of my head. Especially after tonight."

Sakura is lying through her teeth and she can hardly stand it. Sasuke is a traitor, a criminal, and unwelcomed. Her heart breaks for him every once in awhile but not because she loves him. Those days are long gone. But because he should be here. Because Sasuke should be training with Naruto in his spare time. They, all three of them, should be going to Ichiraku after missions and Kakashi should have his main pupil, the boy he tried to pull out of the dark with his bare hands.

As much as Sakura cares about Sai, it should've been Sasuke sitting at Yamato's table.

She lies to him about Sasuke being at the forefront of her thoughts lately. But the reasoning isn't completely false.

"I thought so," he mumbles quietly. Yamato leans his head against hers and looks into her eyes. Sakura wishes she could tell the truth.

"I hope I give you more than what he ever has, Sakura."

"Yamato," she says with a laugh of disbelief. Her fingers rub over his cheekbones softly. "Of course you do. Is that even a question?" She gives a sigh. "It's been a long time since I decided that he was no longer worth the aches."

"But you miss your teammate," he interjects. "And Sai reminds you of all the things that Sasuke could be if he had remained with Team Kakashi."

Sakura feigns deep contemplation. She pretends to be startled that he figured it out so quickly.

The kunoichi congratulates herself sarcastically for her ability to lie. She learned from the best sensei after all.

"It's an old wound, Yamato. Sometimes you just feel a ghost of the pain for no reason at all." She presses her lips to his and the Captain kisses back slowly. Beneath her hands, Sakura can feel him resigning to her confession. For now, the suspicious Yamato has have been satisfied.

"Forgive me for prying." The ninja smiles softly at her. "Now," he says cheerfully, taking her hand. "Off to bed!"

"To sleep?" she asks, exaggerating her excitedness at the idea of finally being able to call it a day.

Yamato smirks at her mischievously. And in that instant, Sakura reminds herself for the millionth time today that this is why she wants this life.

Now all that's left is to get rid of the need to remind herself in the first place.

"Does it matter?" he drawls smoothly.

The ninja gives her rump a nice tap and she laughs, stumbling into the bedroom as he shuts the door behind them.

* * *

Sakura's eyes open wildly. She can't move. She can't fucking move.

Her fingers desperately try to pry off whatever is holding her down in the dark. Fingernails scrape up wood splinters and she struggles helplessly. She can't even sit up.

"Yamato!" she screams as her eyes adjust to the dark.

The captain stands over the bed, his left arm sprouting his wood release into limbs that bind and constrict Sakura. Her ribs are crushing beneath his hold but she can't do anything but crack her fingernails into bloody stubs against the bark.

He drags her out of the sheets and she falls to the floor in a heap. His jutsu curls up her arms as she tries to scramble her way back onto the bed.

His grip tightens and she cries out, feeling her wrist break beneath the pressure.

This is a dream. This has to be a dream.

But the pain is too real for it to be her imagination. Yamato lifts her up from the floor and the tree limbs twist down to her ankles, ensnaring them tightly when she starts to flail her legs.

His almond eyes look at her but he's not seeing her. They're dark and hazy as he slams her up against the wall. The back of her head snaps against the hard surface and she sees stars.

"Yamato, stop! You're hurting me!"

He doesn't respond. The wood seems to try and squeeze the life out of her. But there's no life in his own eyes, no sign of him even recognizing her face as she kicks and screams for him to let her go.

He doesn't even realize anything that he's doing.

The conclusion hits her like a train wreck.

"Baby, stop," she gasps. "Wake up! Yamato, it's just a nightmare!"

A rib cracks and Sakura howls.

Emotionless and cold, Yamato simply stares up at Sakura, eyes clouded and unwavering.

"Please," she begs, painful tears slipping down her cheeks, "Wake up!"

Deciding that the enemy is making too much noise, Yamato thrusts his free hand upward and clenches her throat in his grasp. Sakura can't breathe. She struggles to take in air, wriggling within the confines of his wood release.

Her lungs burn but so do her eyes. Tears blind her but Yamato doesn't react, he simply looks back at her like a bug that needs to be crushed and strangles her harder.

She has to do something. He has to wake up or she's going to die.

Yamato is a soldier. And soldiers do not show mercy in combat.

Sakura just wishes she could get through to him. This isn't war. This is his bedroom.

Spots explode behind her eyelids and her heart begins to stutter. Not enough oxygen to her brain. She can feel the fight leaving her as Yamato nearly crushes her airway beneath his palm.

He sees the enemy looking back at him. He sees Yoshirou beneath the captivity of his wood release, not Sakura. And in the boundaries of his head, he can hear Akira screaming instead of her.

_I'm gonna die_, Sakura realizes as her limbs finally stop the struggle. She doesn't have the energy to keep resisting. The kunoichi fades in and out of consciousness.

She has to do something. She has to react or he's really going to take her life.

Yamato won't ever forgive himself.

And Kakashi just might kill him in return.

Sakura's desire to live burns brighter for just a moment longer as she thinks of his face and his mismatched eyes. She gives an earsplitting scream and rocks herself forward.

Her forehead comes slamming down onto his.

Pain splits her skull wide open and blood trickles down over her eyes. Yamato falls back onto the ground and the impact snaps him out of his nightmare. He groans on the floor, holding a hand to his aching head.

He blinks up at the ceiling slowly and then at his transformed arm. His gaze follows the trail of his jutsu to see Sakura pinned to the wall, blood dying her pink hair red as she takes desperately greedy gulps of air into her lungs.

"Oh my god." He releases the jutsu and Sakura crumples to the floor in a sweaty, broken heap. "Sakura, I never meant to-"

He tries to crawl over to her and reach out. He grabs her broken wrist and Sakura cries out, scurrying back against the wall, wrenching her hand from his grasp. She brings her knees to her chest. Yamato pulls back, frightened and sick with shame. The pink haired kunoichi looks at him with green horrified eyes.

"I need to look at the wound on your head, sweetheart, please. I am so sorry," he pleads.

Yamato reaches out for her one more time but Sakura stands up quickly, unsteady on her feet.

He throws himself at her and wraps his arms around her waist. He presses his face into her stomach and she winces as his head pushes against her cracked rib.

"Sakura, please," he begs, "I didn't mean to hurt you, I swear. "

She trembles beneath his touch. Her knees are barely strong enough to keep her upright.

Sakura pries herself away from him, unable to stand another moment beneath his pleading stare. So she runs.

The girl takes off into the hall and before Yamato can even get to his feet, he hears the front door open.

The Captain nearly trips on his way out of the room but he catches himself and skids after her. Crisp November air greets him at the doorway as he stares out into the night. She didn't even bother to put her sandals on. A trail of blood leads from the entry all the way down the stairs of his apartment complex before disappearing altogether.

"Sakura!" he calls out to the still air. "Sakura!"

He waits. He stands at the door and counts the seconds. Maybe she just needs a moment or two.

But Sakura doesn't return. His nightmare replays in his head like a horror movie but yet his eyes are open and he still feels like he's drowning. Ten minutes have passed.

Yamato kicks the door closed and sinks down against it, his head in hands. He pulls them back when blood coats his fingers from where his head has been split open.

"What I have done?" he moans into his palms. Crimson, both hers and his, smears across his cheeks. Yamato thinks about a trembling Sakura, absolutely terrified of the man that she shares a bed with when he tried to reach out to her.

He had tried to kill Sakura.

The Captain's entire body shakes with the realization that he had nearly strangled her to death with his own hands. He stares at them, red and guilty, before fisting them in his hair.

"Oh my god, what have I done?"

* * *

Kakashi groans and stumbles out of bed.

Goddammit. The one night he actually tries to get some sleep and someone has to knock.

The copy ninja grabs an undershirt from the floor and pulls it on, slipping his mask over his face as he sleepily treks through the hall. His visitor knocks a second time.

"Yeah, give me a second," he calls. Kakashi turns on the light in the kitchen before going to answer the door. He yawns as he swings it open.

But then his heart freezes in his chest as he stares out at Sakura, sweaty and shivering in the cold November breeze. Blood drips down from her forehead and onto the ground.

"Oh my god," he says, pulling her into the house. Sakura stumbles half-heartedly after him and she stares at nothing in particular, her eyes distant and unfeeling. It scares him more than the open wound on her face. Kakashi pulls down his mask and gently takes her face in her hands when she doesn't respond. The girl's eyes only fill up with tears as he makes her look at him. "What the hell happened to you?"

Sakura gives a sob and the floodgates open. She wraps her arms around herself and starts speaking in broken sentences, something about Yamato and nightmares and how he-she can't get the words out. She starts to hyperventilate and it's like she's waking up from a bad dream.

Delicate fingers touch the gash on her head and look at the blood. She takes in ragged breaths and the burning in her side from the broken rib sears it's way up her spine. Sakura sobs uncontrollably and Kakashi can't think of anything to do but to hold her.

He brings her into his chest and she holds on for dear life. Sakura trembles in his arms.

"Did you say Yamato did you this to you?" he asks against her pink hair. The only response she can give him is a whimper and wet tears staining the front of his shirt. "Okay, it's alright, you're safe now." He rubs his hand up and down her back slowly, whispering reassurances against the top of her head.

"Come on. Let's get you cleaned up."

Kakashi sweeps her up into his arms and he carries her to the bathroom. She lays limply against his chest, her eyes once again going unfocused.

"Can you stand for me?" he asks gently. Kakashi sets her feet down on the rug gently, holding her by her sides to make sure she won't fall over. Her knees have stopped shaking but she has yet to look at him. The ninja turns on the water in the bathtub. "Let's get you in the tub, okay?"

Kakashi slowly peels off her tshirt. The back of it sticks to her with sweat and blood stains the front of it. His keen nose picks up the scent of sandalwood all over her. His fingers gently smooth back her hair so he can take a look at her head wound.

How could he have done this to her? It's the most absurd thing he's ever heard.

But his primary concern is Sakura. He doesn't let his fingers linger or let his eyes wander. She doesn't need a lover right now. She needs a safe haven. And if he can't be anything else for her, he can be that.

Robotically, she steadies herself on his shoulders with her hands while he leans down and gets her out of her night shorts, one leg after the other. Sakura stands there in the underwear and he reaches over to turn off the faucet.

He touches her face gently.

"Hey, look at me." No response. "Sakura, please look at me."

Her eyes slide to his face absently.

"I need to get you in the bathtub and let me wash those clothes. Do you want to take the rest off by yourself?"

She looks at him as if he's speaking another language.

This is painful for Kakashi. He's only ever seen her act like this on one occasion and it was a scary time to know Sakura.

It was when Sasuke betrayed the Leaf. She didn't talk. She didn't eat. Just passively stared off into nothing and she just _existed._ Her eyes are like ghosts of that time period as she looks back at him now. And it terrifies him.

Kakashi slips her bra straps off her shoulders, unclasping the hooks and lets it fall to the rug. Once again, she wills herself to hold onto to his shoulders while he gently takes down her panties. He picks her up again in his arms and sits her down in the warm water of the bubble bath. Kakashi throws his leg over one side of the tub after rolling up his pant leg and he straddles the edge of it.

Gently, trying not to get soap into her eyes, he washes the blood from her hair.

The gash on her forehead has stopped bleeding and is beginning to close itself so it doesn't need stitches which is a good sign. She must be sending chakra up to kickstart the natural healing process. But Sakura simply stares at the bathroom tile behind him as he washes her neck and her face, gently, to get the blood stains off her skin.

"Sakura, I need you to tell me what else hurts you."

Her left arm lifts itself up and places her hand in his. The wrist has turned purple and started to swell. He picks it up tenderly and notices the splinters in her fingertips and the short, cracked remains of her fingernails.

"Anything else?" he asks sadly.

"My ribs," she says almost inaudibly. Kakashi reaches into the water and presses a hand to her side. She winces.

The copy ninja pulls his leg out of the water and grabs her clothes from the floor. Sakura sinks down into the bubbles, letting it comes up to her chin. She starts to tremble again.

Kakashi goes to put her garments to wash. The blood stains on them make him shiver as he pours soap on top of them and lets them soak.

He grips the edge of the washer machine until his knuckles turn white.

What the fuck happened over there? Kakashi was literally just at Yamato's house not even six hours ago and then this happens. She shows up at his door, covered in blood, no shoes on, and crying uncontrollably about how Yamato did this to her.

It's impossible. He knows better than anyone that Tenzou worships the ground that Sakura walks on. How could he muster up the will to hurt her? To hurt anyone he cares about?

The thought makes him sick. Kakashi pushes himself off the washer and goes to fetch the first aid kit from his closet. He returns to the bathroom and finds Sakura leaning her head back against the tile, eyes closed. One green iris opens when he enters.

She watches him perch himself back on the ledge of the tub.

Kakashi takes his time cleaning her up. He sets a bandage to that wound on her forehead before wrapping up her broken wrist. Then he gets a pair of tweezers and spends almost half an hour taking every single splinter out of her fingertips. He clips down the jagged edges of her fingernails to clean lines. He even washes the bottom of her feet which are filthy from running barefoot through Konoha.

"Thank you," she rasps when he seems to be done.

Accustomed to the silence, Kakashi jumps a bit. He packs the first aid kit away and stands, sighing deeply. The man shakes his head.

"No need for that. Are you ready to get out?"

The girl nods and stands, a little wobbly. The water has grown cold. He wraps her up in a towel and helps her out of the tub. Kakashi takes another towel and dries her hair with it gently.

"It was an accident," Sakura says quietly.

Kakashi decides not to answer. He simply drapes the second towel over her shoulders and turns the light off in the bathroom. His hand finds hers in the dark and he leads her out into the bedroom. He gets her to sit on the edge of his bed while he brings back her clothes.

"This is the only thing that's completely dry," he mentions, handing her the panties. "I can get you something else to wear in the meantime."

She nods and he rummages through his dresser, pulling out a clean long sleeve shinobi shirt. Kakashi helps her get it on, pulling it over her head as she painfully puts her arms through. Her entire body is sore and achey.

Kakashi gently pulls her hair out from where it got stuck beneath the collar of his shirt.

"How could I not be mad? He hurt you," he says suddenly.

"It was an accident," she says again.

"A broken rib and wrist along with a bloody gash on your head doesn't look like an accident, Sakura."

"He has bad dreams at night." Her voice shakes.

Kakashi rubs his face tiredly. He understands what she means a little too much for comfort.

But that doesn't settle the fire in his belly. He can't stand to look at her like this. In a matter of hours, she's managed to shrink into herself. To look small and fragile.

And by the look in her eyes, she's already been broken.

"He could've killed you."

She goes quiet again, losing the will to speak. The severity of tonight only increases when the words come out of somebody else's mouth. Sakura wants to be sick.

"I know a little something about nightmares, Sakura," he says after a few moments of silence while he fixes the bed for her. "And until he gets help, Yamato is dangerous to be around. Night terrors aren't something to be taken lightly. Especially for a shinobi."

But she's not listening. Sakura is far beyond his reach. He pulls back the covers on her side and with a little push, she climbs herself in. Kakashi tucks the covers around her. He smooths away the pink hair from her forehead as she turns over on her uninjured side and stares blankly at the wall.

"Please try and get some sleep."

The ninja reaches over her to grab his pillow. He's about to move away from her to go sleep on the couch. But a tiny hand comes and encircles his wrist as he turns on his heels.

He can't. Kakashi is too angry, too riled up from the nightmare that this evening has become to give her what she wants. He's too weak.

And to be honest, he can't face the morning. She'll want to forget and he can't let any of it go.

But her eyes draw him to her like magnets. He looks over at her from his shoulder and he wants to shake her until she comes alive again. The bed seems to swallow her up whole. And the light in her eyes has dulled down to something cold and wandering. Kakashi can hardly stand it.

"Stay. Please."

He considers this for a long time, weighing the options and the outcomes.

But his mind can't outrace his heart. She needs him to keep her safe through the night.

Kakashi sighs and goes back over to his side of the bed. He lays the pillow down and climbs in next to her. She moves over to settle against his chest and he wraps an arm around her as gently as he can to avoid her injured ribs.

Oh how ironic Kakashi's life has always been. Not even half a day earlier, Sakura was telling him that they were wrong. That they could never be the same and their first night together was nothing but a mistake.

The kunoichi shudders against the warmth of his skin and Kakashi pulls the covers over her tighter. He smooths her hair soothingly as she silently cries for the last time of the night. Her little fist clenches the front of his shirt tightly.

"He never meant to hurt me," she says, voice cracking.

"I know, love." He kisses the top of her head. "I know."

Kakashi waits until her breathing slows. He waits until she feels safe enough to sleep. Her arm drapes over him and her leg tangles up with his beneath the sheets.

But the ninja can't rest so easily. The sharingan implanted that image of her, terrified and lost as she stands in his doorway. And it haunts him.

His heart seizes up in his chest painfully and he tightens his grip on Sakura. Her pulse beats slowly against his side and he sucks in a deep breath as the panic that he refused to show her rises up in the dark and silence of his bedroom.

He could've killed her. Yamato could've easily taken the life right out of her. The dark, purpling bruises on her neck are evidence enough for that. And Kakashi would've never even seen it coming.

The thought of her not existing in a world where he does sends horrible chills up his spine.

How could Yamato have been so reckless? A shinobi should know the difference between nightmares that are manageable and nightmares that threaten, even in the daylight.

He put Sakura in danger. Yamato held her life in his hands and for the first time since he's led the team, Kakashi doubts his ability to keep her safe.

Anger rises up in his throat like bile and he keeps himself from cursing Yamato out loud because beside him, Sakura stirs. Her arm snakes around his neck and pulls him closer, mumbling under her breath in her sleep.

"Kakashi..."

* * *

Yamato's wood release crushes her. Sakura struggles to breathe.

His almond eyes stare coldly back at her and she wishes she could scream. But his fingers capture her throat and Sakura tries to gasp out a plea to Yamato.

Her windpipe cracks beneath his palm.

"You're a liar, Sakura. You're a filthy cheater."

The jonin's hair suddenly begins to fade into silver from the roots. He grows a few inches taller and the scent in the room changes to rainwater and freshly cut grass. The bark of Yamato's wood release begins to glow. Then it crackles and splits like lightning and Sakura can feel his hand slice through her body like a kunai knife. Sakura can smell the iron of her own blood.

A pair of mismatched eyes stare back at her when she uneasily lifts her head up, coughing up crimson until it splatters Kakashi's pale face. But it is fear in the stormy gray orb, not malice.

"Stop lying, Sakura."

* * *

She wakes up screaming.

Kakashi drops the newspaper onto the kitchen table and runs to the bedroom. He yanks the double doors open and sees Sakura sitting up in his bed, hands around her throat as she seems to realize that can she breathe properly. A few more fast seconds and she checks her chest, expecting a gaping hole to be spilling blood onto the sheets.

A sheen of sweat coats her pale face and Kakashi gives a sigh.

He goes over to her and sits on the edge of the bed. The girl immediately climbs into his lap and trembles. His strong arms snake around her and he kisses her pink hair softly, soothing her with kind words until she's ready to stop shaking.

"Only a dream, love." He tilts her chin upwards and makes her look at him. Jade eyes lighten and stop their quaking. Kakashi's thumb strokes away a lone tear as it curves down her cheek. "Besides," he says with a grin, "You're with me. Safest place in all of Konoha besides Hokage Tower itself. They don't call me Kakashi of the Sharingan for nothing." He leans in and whispers this last part, almost as if he's telling her a secret. The kunoichi rolls her eyes.

"Don't get smug with me. It's too early for that."

She scowls at him and the copy ninja merely smirks in return. For a moment, he makes her forget. He gets her to smile, even if it's only half-assed. But Kakashi makes progress and that's all that matters. As long as it gets her talking, he'll try anything.

"Are you hungry?" he asks, smoothing the pink hair back from her forehead to check the head wound. The kunoichi slaps his hand away and, a little embarrassed, crawls out of his arms and out of bed. She goes over to his dresser and stares at the mirror looking back at her. Sakura really is a mess.

Her playful manner evaporates quickly as she sees the purple and yellow bruises in the shape of a handprint splayed against her neck. She reaches up to touch it and her side aches in response.

Memories of Yamato last night bring bile up to her mouth and Sakura puts a hand over it, not trusting herself to speak.

Kakashi watches sadly. He almost had her.

"Come on," he says casually, stretching his arms above his head. His shoulder gives a loud pop. "Let's get some food in you."

Sakura doesn't want to eat. Sakura doesn't even want to move. She stares at herself in the mirror but then her eyes slide to Kakashi looking back at her. He doesn't wear a shirt, his chest and shoulder blades bare as well as his face. The kunoichi doesn't know if she'll ever stop losing her breath every time she looks at Kakashi without a mask on.

Sometimes he's just too beautiful for words.

He looks at her, afraid. And although his entire body contradicts that, the way he lazily carries himself and the sleepy yawn he just took, it's his lone gray eye that gives it away.

Everyone else would be scared to breathe around Sakura right now. They would be hesitant and cautious, treating her like a porcelain doll that can shatter at any time. And she knows that it would only make things worse.

But not Kakashi.

He's only afraid of her getting up and walking out. That's what makes Sakura force herself back to life and respond to him.

The man had taken her in, given her a bath and even took the time to remove every single splinter from her bloodied fingers. Without lecture, without pitied looks or reprimands, or awkward interjections about where they stand together, Kakashi selflessly took her in when she seeked shelter from the life she had previously chosen. It scattered around her feet in pieces and yet, he still kneels down and helps her pick up them up.

Sakura owes him.

She swallows her pride. Of all the places she could've gone last night, she felt like this was her only true option. Sakura craved Kakashi's steadiness. She wanted his hands and his worried gray eye. So she shoves down the guilt of sleeping in his arms last night.

Sakura forgets that she's not supposed to be within 15 feet of him unless absolutely necessary.

"Could you please put a shirt on?" she says with a tired eye roll. "It's distracting."

"No can do. My house, my rules."

He gives a wink and then leads the way to the kitchen. Sakura follows slowly behind him, a hand under his shinobi shirt as she heals her busted ribs just to ease the pain a few notches. The kunoichi nearly crashes into him when he stops abruptly, just to piss her off.

"You idiot. You almost made me mess up," Sakura mumbles as she pushes him aside so she can sit down. Kakashi chuckles as he watches her reach her hand back up his shirt to keep healing herself.

A sense of pride wells up in his chest when he looks her over, the pinkette adorning nothing but his long navy blue fatigue. She's covered in his body wash, in his scent after sleeping in his bed.

The copy ninja quickly turns around to hide the satisfied look on his face as he fixes her breakfast.

"I'm surprised that there's food in this house," she says nonchalantly. Besides some aches and soreness, her ribs will be fine now. Sakura moves on to healing her swollen wrist. The kunoichi watches Kakashi as she unfurls the bandages he wrapped around her broken bone.

"There wasn't until this morning," he replies coolly as he cracks an egg open over a bowl of rice.

"You didn't have to go to the trouble," she says quietly as her hand glows its medicinal green, hovering over her opposite wrist.

"Wasn't a trouble at all. You slept until one anyway. Didn't have anything better to do."

Sakura looks around wildly and finds the clock above the stove. It's 1:17 in the afternoon. The kunoichi groans.

"Tsunade is gonna kill me," she moans. Sakura can already hear the blonde woman cussing her out for not showing up to work. And she would have to lie her way out of it.

Yamato crosses her mind again and the medical ninjutsu flickers when her concentration goes elsewhere. Her hand begins to tremble. Kakashi notices from the corner of his eye.

"I went there this morning as well."

Sakura snaps her eyes up to him as he places the bowl in front of her and a bottle of soy sauce. The ninja turns back to the counter and cuts the green leaves off of some strawberries.

"What for?"

"To tell her you wouldn't be coming into work today." The toaster spews out two slices of bread. "And about Yamato's extreme case of PTSD."

"What?!" she cries shrilly. "You told her?!"

Kakashi doesn't even flinch. He places the fruit and toast onto a plate and slides it across the table to her.

"Mhmm. Do you want milk or orange juice?" he asks as if she didn't just scream at him. Kakashi pulls both cartons out of the fridge and holds them up for her to choose.

Sakura becomes irritated as he smiles, watching his eyes crinkle in return.

"Why the hell did you tell Tsunade, Kakashi?"

"I'm gonna go with milk. You like it more than orange juice." He sets the milk back into the fridge and takes a glass from the cabinet.

Sakura's jaw twitches and she grits her teeth.

"I asked you a question."

"So did I but you didn't answer. We're even." He smiles again as he pushes the cup of cold milk towards her. Kakashi leans against the counter, watching her through his stupid crinkled eyes, and crosses his arms.

"Will you be serious for five seconds!" she cries.

"I am being serious." That goddamn smile. Sakura is about to get up and smack it off.

"Kakashi, this is my life we're talking about!"

And then it's gone. The amused, slightly disinterested look on his face is gone and is replaced with the Kakashi that she's still a stranger to. He clenches his jaw and his one gray eye is the eye of a hurricane.

"Yes, Sakura, it is your life. And you almost lost it because Yamato doesn't want to bother people with his suffering."

"Are you sure you aren't talking about yourself?" she snaps back.

"I didn't try to kill you with my bare hands, did I?"

"You should've kept your mouth shut. Now Tsunade will be angry at him too and Yamato will know you told-"

"Sakura, wake up," he says with the slightest raise of his voice. Kakashi realizes his slip and sighs. He lowers his tone back down from a confrontational one. "I don't care if Tsunade gets mad at anyone. I don't care if Yamato knows that I told her, he endangered your life." His fingers grip the countertop tightly until they're stark white. "And believe me when I say, the night terrors don't stop. Yamato will start loosing his mind, even when he's awake if he doesn't talk to someone. It comprises his relationship with not only you but it comprises his life and the lives of his comrades if he goes out on a mission and he can't stop seeing blood on his hands."

She opens her mouth to protest but Kakashi cuts in. He keeps his cool but his jaw twitches in anger.

"PTSD does not give a damn if you slept with another man, Sakura. If you love him, even in the slightest bit, you will stand back and let Tsunade help him. Unless you want Yamato turning into me," for the first time Sakura hears Kakashi sound bitter, "he needs to talk to someone."

Sakura looks down at her breakfast as it starts to cool. She's ashamed of herself.

"Is that what happened to you?" Her voice is barely a whisper as she scratches absently at the surface of the table. She looks up to meet his gaze and Kakashi has to look away.

He swallows hard before speaking.

"I was alot worse than Yamato, Sakura."

Silence envelops them as the clock on the wall continues to tick. He can feel her eyes on him but he can't force himself to look up and meet her.

"The only reason I didn't hurt anybody that I cared about was because either they were already dead or I didn't allow anyone near me until I knew I could deal."

He takes a chance and peers out at her from behind his shaggy silver hair as it falls over his eyes. Sakura looks down at her hands in her lap sadly. Kakashi sighs.

He pushes himself off the counter and slowly goes over to sit next to her.

Like two magnets, Kakashi opens his arm out to her and she immediately falls into his side. She breathes in his scent and traces the faint scars on his forearm.

"I didn't mean to upset you. But I just-" he searches for the right words, "I need you to understand. Whatever happened, or happens, between us? This is so much greater than that."

She doesn't respond but continues to trace the raised, imperfect skin of the arm around her.

"Look at me."

Her eyes raise slowly and he leans his forehead against hers, cupping her face gently in his palm. She leans into his touch.

"He could've killed you. And I don't think I could've handled that." He closes his eyes and whispers to her, their breath mingling together as the air begins to charge between them. Sakura can't help but to flicker her gaze to his lips. "Sakura," she turns her attention back to his eyes, "I don't know what I would've done to Yamato if you had-" the words don't come out but they don't need to. Sakura reaches up and traces her fingers along his handsome cheekbones.

"But that pales in comparison to what it would've done to him when he woke up and realized that he killed you with his own hands."

The truth rattles through Sakura like an earthquake. Kakashi is right. She was being selfish. Yamato needed a kind of help that she couldn't give him. And Kakashi, of all people, was ready to help him get there.

"You're so much stronger than I am," she says in a raspy whisper as tears threaten her jade eyes. Kakashi gives a sad smiles and shakes his head.

"It's because I'm weak that I want him to be better."

Their skin is electrified where they touch and Kakashi can't help but curl his fingers into her hair, cupping the back of her neck gently. He is weak and he is selfish. But for Sakura? He'd be anything he needed to be.

His lips touch hers and Sakura kisses him back slowly, savoring. The ache in her chest, the hollowness in her bones, ebbs away until there is only Kakashi. There is only his bare chest as he pulls her against him. There is only his lips and the scent of rain on his skin.

Until there's a knock on his door.

Kakashi pulls away and hovers his lips over hers.

"I really need to put a do not disturb sign on the door handle," he mutters regrettably when the kiss halts. Sakura gives a sheepish smile and leans in for another. He kisses her back quickly before standing.

His nose wrinkles as he sniffs the air and his entire body tenses.

"What is it?" she asks, sensing the shift in his mood.

"It's Yamato. Go to the bedroom," he orders sternly.

Sakura's heart dips into her stomach and she gets up, racing to the double doors of Kakashi's room. She shuts them behind her and slides her back against them, concealing her chakra immediately.

Is she nervous because she doesn't want to get caught at Kakashi's?

Or is she scared to face Yamato?

She asks herself this over and over again until she hears the click of Kakashi's door open. Sakura quiets her mind and strains herself to hear them.

Kakashi had pulled on a masked undershirt that was hanging on the arm of the couch before answering. He swings it open and the other man stands there, a bandage on his head in the same spot as Sakura's wound. But that's not what startles Kakashi.

His eyes are red, dark circles underneath them and he looks like he's aged five years overnight.

It scares Kakashi because he thinks he's looking at a reflection of his younger self.

"Hey," he finally says. "You alright?"

Yamato looks up at his friend slowly and tries to mumble a response but he can't. Kakashi has never, in his entire life, seen the man this disheveled.

"Tsunade told me this morning that you're the one who told her about the-" Yamato swallows hard, "the incident. It makes sense that she would come here. I surely would've thought Naruto's but he wouldn't have really known how to act." The exhausted jonin tries to give a smile but it falters immediately.

His almond eyes look up at Kakashi hopefully. A twist of guilt twinges in the silver haired ninja's gut.

"Is she still here by any chance? I really need to speak with her."

From the privacy of his bedroom, Sakura's heart pounds in her chest.

She begs Kakashi not to let him know that she is. The kunoichi can't face him just yet.

The wound is still fresh. And that kiss is still unfinished, leaving a bad taste in her mouth as Yamato and Kakashi's voices mix together at the doorway.

"No," he lies easily. "She left early this morning to go back home."

"Right. Of course."

Yamato is ashamed. He's embarrassed and mortified that Kakashi knows what he did. But the copy ninja makes sure to look at Yamato the way he always does.

He doesn't need judgement passed on him. He doesn't need incredulous eyes on his back.

The Captain turns to leave but Kakashi puts a hand on his shoulder and stops him.

"Tenzou," he says quietly, giving the man's shoulder a squeeze. "Let her be for now. She's scared. And heartbroken."

This makes Yamato's hands tremble. He stares at them and clenches them into fists to keep them from shaking so much.

"But most of all," Kakashi continues slowly, "she's worried about you."

Yamato looks up at the sky, a desperate gesture as he tries to blink away the tears from his eyes.

"You need help, Tenzou," the copy ninja says gently. "She can't give you the kind you need."

"I never meant to-"

"I know, brother." The word startles Kakashi. It came out before he could stop himself.

And as much as he hates himself for hiding Sakura in his bedroom. As much as he loathes himself for the betrayal that he gives to Yamato every second of every day, he considers this word true.

"I just want to take care of her, Kakashi."

"Then do it. Let Tsunade help and you can take care of her by taking care of yourself."

The other ninja's hand reaches up and grips Kakashi's as it rests on his shoulder.

_Tell me what to do_, it says. A gesture Kakashi is all too familiar with when it comes to a certain long haired kunoichi with red eyes.

"Is she-" his hand drops from Kakashi's, "Is she gonna leave me?"

Yamato stops his trembling. He stops his timid, uncertain voice and replaces it with something that sounds almost like his original soothing rumble. Kakashi gives a half smile at this.

But the question haunts the copy ninja. He doesn't know the answer.

And he's not sure if he wants to know.

"Give her some time, Tenzou. She needs to heal on her own."

The young man nods appreciatively and takes his leave, slowly making his way down the stairs of Kakashi's apartment complex, arms tucked into the pockets of his civilian clothes.

The copy ninja goes back into his apartment and gives a sigh of relief, closing the door behind him. Sakura is already sitting back at the table when he gets to the kitchen, eating her breakfast quietly.

Kakashi sits across from her and as if they have been doing it since the beginning of time, the copy ninja opens up the newspaper and reads as they eat together. Sakura reaches over and steals sips from his orange juice after she's finished with her milk.

Time passes by pleasantly, silently. The afternoon sun shines in from the open windows and Sakura heals the bruises on her neck while Kakashi continues to read. Only after he finishes, folding it up, does he look at her.

No words are spoken. She smiles at him and he smiles back.

Her green eyes lighten at the edges and his heart pounds against his ribs.

Sakura gets up and walks into the living room, opening up the double doors of his bedroom. He watches from where he sits, his elbow on the table, chin in his palm.

She smirks at him and disappears into his room.

Chuckling to himself, Kakashi gets up and follows slowly, his hands in his pockets.

He closes the doors behind them and from somewhere inside, Sakura laughs.

* * *

**Author's Note: Next chapter, Sakura realizes something is up with her body. And a visit to the clinic shatters everything.**


	11. Chapter 11

The first bout of morning sickness comes in full force. Sakura sits sleepily at the kitchen table, almost sinking down onto the floor while Kakashi fixes breakfast, as usual. She never gets up early enough to make it herself.

Today he felt like making something a little more western. He sets pancake batter to cook against a skillet, almost in perfect circles as he simultaneously pours her a glass of milk. Kakashi has never been one to keep the fridge stocked but since Sakura has started staying with him most days out of the week, he realized grocery shopping was something that he could no longer forget to do.

"Morning," he says softly to her, pressing the cold glass in her hand as she starts to doze off at the table, chin in her palm. She stirs awake once again as he kisses the top of her head before slipping back over to put bacon to fry.

"Good morning," she mumbles back with a yawn. After a few moments, when Kakashi starts to hum to himself, she asks timidly, "Do I snore?"

Kakashi laughs as he cracks open two eggs into a pan.

"A little."

"Does it bother you?"

He looks back at Sakura over his shoulder and gives her an eye crinkling smile.

"Not in the slightest."

Because the truth is, every since Sakura has taken up to sleeping with him at night, Kakashi sleeps better than he has in years. When she spends time at home with her parents, he finds himself tossing and turning, unable to settle down next to an empty side of the bed.

Sakura gives the tiniest sigh of relief.

She reaches her arms above her head and stretches, popping her shoulders and her back. It's still rather early but Sakura has to get to the hospital soon. Tsunade will be waiting for her to start rounds.

The kunoichi's mood dampens when she thinks about her Hokage. She still hasn't forgiven Sakura just yet for not coming to her sooner about Yamato's condition. After all the nights she spent in the hospital with him, the pinkette knew he was plagued with bad dreams. He would wake up in a cold sweats, gasping for air. And the sound of surging electricity sets him off as well the smell of smoke.

Sakura takes responsibility for his illness. She knew he wasn't alright but she couldn't find it in herself to accept that he wouldn't get over it with time.

Yamato was strong, a sturdy tree enduring the passing of seasons.

But she was wrong.

The kunoichi's gaze flickers to Kakashi's bare back and shoulders as they move effortlessly while he cooks. His unruly silver hair has grown farther down the back of his neck, more than usual. He'll need a haircut soon.

She closes her eyes and forces the whole situation out of her head when she starts to dwell too long on his almond eyes and Kakashi's taut arms in the same train of thought.

Yamato decided to get help and in the process of healing, he hasn't been allowed to see Sakura for nearly three weeks. It was a hefty price to pay but he needed the treatment.

According to Tsunade, he's been sent out into the field to do a week long trial mission with a designated team to test his abilities to cope. She says Yamato is getting better.

But that doesn't untangle the knot in her gut every time she thinks about him.

Or about the fact that she has been spending too much time with Kakashi.

Her head snaps up, pulling her out of her thoughts when the silver haired man gives a hiss and nearly drops the carton of orange juice he was drinking out of. The bacon in the pan had popped some grease onto his forearm and chest, singing his pale skin.

"Ouch," Sakura says, wincing as he simply wipes the droplets of searing grease onto his jonin pants with his fingers. "Hey, don't do that, you'll stain them."

She's about to lecture him about how she washes clothes around here since Kakashi will let laundry pile up until he's down to one set of fatigues but she stops abruptly. The kunoichi puts a hand over her mouth and nose but she can't escape the overpowering stench of the bacon frying.

It's too savory, coating the air with the scent of charring animal flesh. Her stomach churns as the familiar feeling of nausea begins to wash over her.

What the hell? Sakura is confused. She loves bacon. But it makes the entire kitchen reek until she feels like she's drowning in decaying, burning animal meat.

"Are you sure that bacon isn't expired or something?" she asks, hand still cupped over her mouth. Kakashi stirs it around, dodging a few more grease pops.

"Yeah, I just bought it yesterday. Why?" He turns to look at her over his shoulder but Sakura is already gone. Her chakra emits from the bathroom, making it easy for him figure out where she had gone. And then he hears retching.

Kakashi turns off the heat on the stove and wipes his hands on a towel as he heads into the bedroom to see what's wrong. Sakura kneels on the bathroom rug, face over the toilet, and she hurls incessantly.

The copy ninja immediately crams himself into the space with her and stands over the puking kunoichi. He keeps her hair up in a makeshift ponytail with his hand as she continues to throw up last night's dinner and this morning's daily glass of milk.

Beads of sweat snake down her forehead as she begins to just dry heave, not having anything else to send back up. The girl pants to herself and moans. She's always hated throwing up.

"Are you trying to say something about my cooking? Because for the record, I haven't even fed you yet." He tries to lighten the mood but he can feel Sakura's body tremble slightly as she tries to stand. Kakashi helps her up, letting her grip onto his forearm, and helps her to her feet.

The copy ninja reaches over as she stands at the sink, trying to catch her breath, and hands her the toothbrush he bought for her to keep there.

Sakura wipes her mouth with the gray hand towel hanging on the rack and tries to calm the nausea. She takes the toothbrush and brushes her teeth with alot of toothpaste. Kakashi leans against the opposite wall, hands behind his back, just in case she has to throw up again. Her eyes meet his through the mirror.

"Do you feel okay? No fever or anything?" He reaches out and puts a palm to her forehead and then to her cheek. Her skin is clammy and flushed but there's no alarming heat. Kakashi racks his brain. "Didn't you go eat at Ichiraku last night with Naruto and Shikamaru?"

Sakura nods, trying not to think about the fact that she saw her dinner again just a few moments ago.

"Maybe that made you sick?" he inquires as she spits into the sink, rinsing her mouth. She washes her hands but shakes her head, still watching Kakashi's handsome face through the mirror. He's been neglecting shaving, the silver stubble along his jaw glinting in the light.

"Have _you_ ever gotten sick at Ichiraku?" she asks, a little sarcastically. They all eat there at least once a week nowadays and have never, not once, gotten sick from it. Kakashi sighs and rubs the back of his neck. He follows Sakura out of the bathroom and she sits back down at the kitchen table, feeling exhausted and spent. Her limbs grow heavy.

Kakashi serves her a plate of breakfast and another glass of milk, pushing it gently across the table to her as he sits down across from her.

"You should really try to get something down before you go to work. Need to keep your energy up." The copy ninja watches her carefully as he cuts pancake with a fork.

Sakura puts a mouthful of egg into her mouth slowly. Kakashi waits, pancake halted before his lips, to see if she can swallow it down. With some effort, she does and Kakashi's shoulders untense a little.

He puts the morsel into his mouth, flickering his eyes away from her for only a moment to cut another piece, satisfied that she's able to eat.

But that ends quickly as she knocks over the glass of milk in the process of getting up as quickly as she can to sprint to the bathroom.

Kakashi sighs, not able to bring himself to eat anymore as he hears Sakura retching all the way from the kitchen. He lets the spilled milk drip onto the floor, resigning himself to cleaning it up later as he goes to bathroom, once again, to make sure she's alright.

"This is all your fault!" she cries, tears streaming down her face as she continues to dry heave nothing. But the nausea is there, he can see it in the swallow color of her cheeks.

"How is this my fault, you ate one bite of my food," he says casually as he squats down beside her to rub her back. Kakashi tries not to smirk.

"You better wipe that grin off your face," she says spitefully before she goes into another bout of horrible retching.

"What're you gonna do, throw up on me?" He chuckles.

Sakura angrily turns her head towards him and starts to heave in his direction. The copy ninja immediately leaves the bathroom, pulling back with the speed and agility that only a ninja can muster, and goes to clean up the spilled milk. That was his cue to leave her alone for now.

Soaking up the liquid with a towel, he can't help but smile to himself as he hears Sakura cry out how much she hates him again from behind the bathroom door.

"Keep telling yourself that, love."

"Shut up, Kakashi, or I swear to god I'm gonna knock you silly."

Her threat is cut short as he hears her moan again, somehow managing to find something else in her empty stomach to throw up.

Kakashi sighs as he returns to the bedroom to get dressed. This is gonna be a long day.

* * *

The copy ninja rotates his shoulders back and flexes his right hand. It shakes softly beneath the strain of his muscles, a soreness creeping into his wrist that he can't quite ignore. It's barely noon, Kakashi concludes, as he looks up at the position of the sun, squinting his one gray eye while leaving the confines of the Intelligence Division's building.

His time with Inoichi was strenuous. Tsunade had asked Kakashi to sit in on an interrogation and help. The copy ninja's genjutsu was only the first step in what would be a long and tortuous journey for the young man of the Lock Village that had been caught lurking around the boundaries of the Leaf.

So in addition to his trembling hand, Kakashi's head ached severely. Sharp pain shot up the entire left side of his brain every time he tried to open the sharingan beneath his headband. He overused it today. But Konoha needs that intel.

War might soon be on their doorstep.

But it wasn't all that bad, Kakashi reminds himself. It gave him a chance to copy a few of Inoichi's mind jutsus. He would save them in his arsenal to practice on a rainy day.

Sighing, the copy ninja pulls out his Icha Icha, Master Jiraiya's final work, and reads leisurely as he takes his time to get to Hokage Tower to report his findings in the interrogation. Without even looking up, he easily avoids the civilians of the village as he slips deeper into the heart of the village. Parents are out with their children, shinobi on their lunch breaks. Street vendors and shops try to attract customers as kids weave in and out of the legs of the adults who happen to be passing by.

Kakashi is no different. He swerves slightly to the right to avoid a pack of little boys who kick up dirt and dust behind them, shoving and hollering as they stampede down the main street. The ninja pretends not to notice but a boy, a straggler at the end of the crowd, slows to a walk. He stares at Kakashi and then tugs on the shirt of his companion. They try to whisper but they underestimate Kakashi's ability to hear.

"Kosuke, that's Kakashi of the Sharingan!"

"Where?" The child looks up at the shinobi they're about to pass. He takes a good look at his unruly silver hair, his one charcoal eye and his tall stature. "It's his left eye, isn't it?" the one named Kosuke whispers back to his friend, now staring at the covered side of Kakashi's face.

"Mhmm. The only sharingan left in the whole Village."

"Whoaaaa," they say simultaneously.

Kakashi walks directly past them now. To their surprise, he turns his head slightly to wander his one visible eye over them and gives them a smile. A small, lazy wave follows and he continues walking in the opposite direction.

The two little ones can't help but stare in awe after him. They take off in a run to tell the others that the famous Copy Ninja of Konoha acknowledged them. Skidding around the corner, they call to each other in pants as they run.

"I wish my dad was as cool as Kakashi-sama!" cries the smaller one. The other nods vigorously and soon enough, the pounding of their sandaled feet against the dirt fades along with their voices.

Kakashi stops for a moment and looks over his shoulder at where they had been standing. He chuckles.

Him, a father? He'd be terrible at it. He barely liked his own genin when he first got them. And they were already teenagers when they joined him.

The fond memory of three small, petulant ninja makes him smile and shake his head as he continues walking. But it falters on his mouth as his thoughts drift to Sakura.

She felt so awful this morning but she made herself get up and go to work anyway. Kakashi, even during the interrogation, felt a gnawing in the back of his head that told him he should be worried about her. The girl hardly ever got sick. She was probably coming down with the flu.

The silver haired ninja climbed the spiraling staircase up the side of Hokage Tower, book still in hand but not really processing the words. Kakashi hopes Sakura isn't trembling in a bathroom stall somewhere in the hospital. And knowing her, she'd refuse to go home, no matter how sick she was.

The thought makes him sigh as he stows away his novel back into his pouch, entering the familiar circular hallway that will lead him to the Hokage's office.

Still thinking of Sakura, her small body curled up perfectly in his arms this morning, Kakashi reaches out to open the door to Lady Tsunade's office. But someone beats him to the punch and Kakashi swerves expertly out of the way right before the door collides with his face.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there. Excu-" Yamato looks back up from his apologetic bow and his features cracks into a smile.

Kakashi's heart drops into his stomach. But he gives his best grin and claps the ninja by the shoulder when Yamato reaches out and does the same.

"Yamato. You look well," he says truthfully. The jonin no longer resembles the pale, trembling ghost that he was when he came knocking on Kakashi's door. His eyes no longer have defined dark circles beneath him and the color in his skin has returned. He looks exceptionally better.

But Kakashi has always been a little more perceptive than most. He can see the hint of tiredness in his shoulders. And if he tries hard enough, he can see Sakura's face reflecting back at him in Yamato's dark almond eyes.

His gut twinges in guilt.

"How's your treatment going?" the silver haired shinobi asks. He really wants to know if Yamato is better. It's important that he faces his demons.

But he always just wants to know if he's allowed to see Sakura again. Kakashi makes a fist in the privacy of his pocket.

"Good. Really good, actually. I still have nightmares of course but they're not as-"

"Severe," Kakashi finishes for him. The younger ninja nods and gives Kakashi's shoulder a squeeze before letting go.

"I wanted to thank you. For telling Tsunade."

The jonin's eyes flicker to the Hokage behind them who's sitting at her desk, watching the two men closely.

_Why is she looking at me like that, _Kakashi asks himself. Her chocolate eyes study his every move.

"Please don't thank me, Yamato. Just looking out for you, brother."

Dammit, there it is again. That word.

Yamato's almond eyes lighten and he gives a satisfied smile.

"I really appreciate it, Kakashi. Truly." He clears his throat and resists the urge to look over his shoulder at Lady Tsunade.

"How's Sakura?" he finally asks.

The copy ninja had seen the question coming from a mile away. The snarky, jealous side of Kakashi nearly bit out a reply that would probably make Yamato want to strangle his superior right there on the spot.

"She's doing alright. No more late night visits," he lies easily with a chuckle. "Busy as always in the hospital."

He can see it in Yamato's face that this answer was not enough. But all that Kakashi has to offer him are things that a student shouldn't be telling their sensei as they lie together in bed.

"I would ask her to talk first," Kakashi continues, slowly. "Don't bombard her with the need to discuss what happened. Just, you know, ease her into it."

The advice stings on the way up his throat but he had to say something else. Yamato looked like a puppy that had been kicked when Kakashi tried to be his usual blunt and disinterested self.

"Right, of course."

From behind them, Lady Tsunade clears her throat. Yamato rubs the back of his head and gives a sheepish smile to Kakashi.

"I'll see you around?" he asks the silver haired jonin, giving a wave over his shoulder as he heads down the hall.

He nods and gives another eye crinkling smile until he disappears around the corner. It immediately drops and worry curls up along his insides.

This is what they mean by 'the honeymoon is over'.

"Kakashi," barks Tsunade. "Can we get to business now? You're late."

Reverting back to his typical lazy demeanor, Kakashi strolls in, shutting the door behind him with the tip of his foot. He slips his hands into his pockets and stands as attentively as he can before the Hokage.

She leans back in her chair, still watching him a little too closely for comfort.

What the hell is with her today?

"How did the interrogation go?" she asks finally.

"Long. Tedious. However, we did extract some useful information that Inoichi should be sending over in a report within the hour."

"Good. That's good," Tsunade muses distractedly. Kakashi waits patiently until she decides to speak again. "And the progress on your ongoing mission?"

"Slow but thorough. Shikaku and I had a strategics session a few days ago and I think the end results will please you."

Tsunade huffs, annoyed, and leans forward, lacing her hands together in front of her.

"War does not please me, Kakashi."

"Does it please anyone?" he retorts seriously. She looks up at him and has to blink away the image of a little silver haired boy she once knew, consumed by grief. There's still an echo of him in Kakashi's deep charcoal eye.

"I know this must be hard on you. To be planning a war and our offensive attack while nearly every other shinobi does not see the storm brewing on the edge of our borders."

Kakashi shakes his head. "It's not that." Tsunade raises an eyebrow. The ninja chooses his words carefully, slowly.

"You know I am willing to die for this land. I would prefer it to dying of old age in my bed." His one gray eye locks onto hers. "But I do not want to go to war. We are making a mistake."

The Hokage rises from her chair and goes to stand in front of her desk, leaning against it. She crosses her arms over her chest. Danger. He can see it in her eyes. A challenge.

"So what do you propose we do? Jōmae will have no peace talks. They have made that abundantly clear with the amount of our men they have killed. Genma and Akira not included."

There's a sting in his chest at the mention of his friend's name. The jonin's smiling face, his senbon dangling from his mouth, flashes before Kakashi's eyes. He swallows the hurt down and faces the numbers. The Lock Village and the Leaf have been dancing around each other for weeks. A strike here, a lost soldier there, a counter. They're playing cat and mouse, escalating with every skirmish.

Peace is no longer an option.

"Stealth. We could take out the commanders of their shinobi force so that they become disorganized."

"Jōmae is vengeful of the neglect they have received from the Great Nations. Their will to take us out will not bend, even with something as immobilizing as that. They will simply reelect commanders."

"Lady Hokage, my plan consists of a full on frontal attack after an initial stealth infiltration. Their civilians, their children, will die."

"And what of our civilians? What of our children, Kakashi?"

"They wouldn't dare attack us on our own land. Our defenses are better than theirs."

"So what you would do? Let them grow and fester while we count on the fact that they cannot dream of infiltrating us directly? What happens when they can achieve such a thing?"

"There has to be another way-"

"There isn't. The Elders want Jōmae destroyed if that's what it takes. They are a threat to peace within the Great Nations. If they get an ally, we could find ourselves standing on the ledge of an even bigger war." Her eyes flash angrily and Kakashi pinches the bridge of his nose. "They took your friends hostage and tried to extract every single piece of information on every single shinobi that we have. And those exact shinobi are still out there, alive and hunting. If they succeed in capturing a Leaf Ninja long enough to get that kind of information with their nearly god like espionage abilities, we are done."

"But Lady Tsunade-"

"What would you do, Kakashi?"

"I don't know, we could try-"

"I don't want a **could**, I want a **we need to**."

"There has to be something else we can-"

"What do we do, Kakashi?"

"Lady Tsunade, really, there are other options-"

"That's not good enough! _What do we do, Kakashi?_"

"I am not Hokage!" he finally shouts. The two of them stand there, facing off now. Kakashi clears his throat and straightens back up from his aggressive stance.

"Forgive me, Tsunade-sama. I did not mean to shout."

The blonde woman gives a smirk. She pushes off the desk gently and closes the distance between her and her jonin. Tsunade reaches up and gives his cheek a playful tap.

"You're still that bratty, self entitled kid that you were 21 years ago. But war has changed you, Kakashi. And as much as you try to fight it, you _think _like a Hokage." She gave him a sincere smile and it catches him off guard. It's almost sad. "Minato would've been so proud to see your face on that mountainside had fate played in your favor. You're a legacy, after all."

"I am not worthy to lead this village," he says seriously.

"Yes you are. Because you were willing to do it, despite your desires against it, because there was no one else." She steps away from him and goes to stand by the window, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor. She watches Konoha bustle in the cold afternoon sun. The glass held a chill as December stakes it's claim on the village.

"You could've been great, Kakashi."

He gives a disbelieving chuckle, rubbing the back of his head absently.

"I would've had big shoes to fill."

Silence stretches on between them as Tsunade leans her forehead against the cool glass of her office, watching a group of Academy students, the youngest of them all, pile out of the doors and into the loving arms of their parents. Their noses burn red with the chill, mothers frantically tucking scarves in around their necks.

"Maybe when you have children, you will understand." She turns and looks at him over her shoulder. "You won't be so risky with your own life."

Kakashi doesn't say anything. He simply waits politely for her to finish.

"I do not want this war, Kakashi. Like you, I believe that there is a better way. That is what makes us good leaders. However," her eyes lock onto his and she smiles sadly, "it does not make us good warriors. Jōmae will not surrender. They are dangerous, snakes in the grass. The longer we wait, the stronger they will become. As the Hokage, and as the Hokage that I know you are deep in your heart, you know that this is what we must do."

The words ring in his ears and settle onto his spine. They're cold and bloody.

"You're going to be Commander of our forces, whenever it begins. That's the decision I wanted to talk to you about."

He nods. "Understood."

"But," Tsunade turns around and sits back down in her chair, "Be the leader that I cannot be with the Elders hanging over my shoulder. Don't settle for the warrior. Figure out a way to execute this plan without making us butchers." She studies him for a moment. "You can go."

Kakashi gives her a bow, the will of fire and the ice grip of pending death battling it out in his core. He's Commander now.

The jonin grabs the door handle but stops when Tsunade calls out to him.

"Oh and Kakashi?" He grits his teeth. "Commander doesn't mean you get to be risky with your life this time around."

The hairs on the back of his neck stand up. For some reason he can't name, he thinks of Sakura's jade eyes.

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

"Are you sure you're alright, Forehead? You threw up your entire lunch in a matter of seconds."

Ino puts the back of her hand up against Sakura's clammy cheek.

"You don't have a fever but I really think you should go home. You might have the flu or a stomach bug."

Sakura rubs the heels of her palms into her eyes and groans. Her entire body trembles with the lack of nourishment. She can barely hold down water, let alone solid food. The pinkette looks up at her friend, and sometimes enemy, perched on the edge of her desk, long legs crossed and posed delicately.

Somehow Ino ended up working in the hospital today instead of out in the field. They hardly ever work the same shift anymore. And it's not that Sakura doesn't like working with a friend during the tediousness of hospital shifts. Sometimes she rather enjoys Ino's company. But Sakura just doesn't have it in her today to listen to Ino gush about how good of a kisser Shikamaru is.

Not that he isn't handsome, he is. But the thought of kissing someone who she looks at like a brother makes her stomach churn in ways that are not good for her nausea. Sakura had hoped that by lunchtime the sickness would pass but she was wrong. She spent most of her break trembling in a bathroom stall over the toilet.

Ino had tried to help by holding her hair back but soon had to leave before she started puking as well. At least she tried.

"I think I'm going to go to the clinic after my shift is over." She tries to stop her hand from shaking as she signs a chart. Her muscles ache and she feels so tired, she could collapse right here on this desk and not care.

Ino, inspecting her nails, gives a 'hmm' of agreement. The blonde is about to open her mouth to say something else but a familiar voice calls out to her.

"Ino!" Shikamaru strolls into the hospital, hands lazily shoved inside his pockets. "Let's go."

His face is in a disinterested scowl as he waits for his girlfriend to say her goodbyes and hang up her lab coat behind the nurse's station. They must be late for something.

Ino gives Sakura's hair a ruffle as she passes by. "Bye, Forehead! Hope you feel better!"

Shikamaru gives a wave of acknowledgement to his pink haired friend before reaching his hand out for Ino's. Their fingers intertwine and he sighs, almost thankfully.

"Why do you have to yell at me like that?" she snaps as they turn to leave.

"Because," he huffs, "troublesome woman, you told me your shift would be over an hour ago. Choji and I have been waiting outside forever."

"Sakura has been sick all afternoon, I had to make sure she was okay!"

The spiky haired male turns and looks at Ino and her cloudy blue eyes. He puts his free hand to her cheek before she swats him away.

"Are you sure you're not the one with the fever?"

"Oh shut up. Let's go."

Sakura can't help but smile as she watches them go. But her head still pounds and Sakura pinches the bridge of her nose. This day can't end fast enough.

She sifts through her pile of files and charts, sorting the most severe cases from the minor ones. Sakura chews on the end of her pen as she works.

"Hey."

Sakura's entire body freezes up at the sound of his smooth, rumbling voice. She drops her hand from her face and flickers her eyes up. Yamato stands there, still a good distance away, and gives her a nervous smile.

She feels sick again.

"I hope I'm not bothering you, I was just coming by to see Shizune. Thought I'd say hello."

She stares up at Yamato's almond eyes and she can't seem to make her mouth move. Her stomach churns unpleasantly and there's a tug in her heart as she remembers the past three weeks without him.

She missed him, unbearably so.

But at the same time, as she spent more and more mornings with Kakashi, she didn't miss him at all.

The thought makes her insides jerk. Sakura forces down a gag.

He shifts uncomfortably when she doesn't respond.

"No!" she says a little too enthusiastically. The girl flinches at her volume and clears her throat, hoping to recover her blunder. "I mean, no. You're not bothering me. Just doing charts. You know, the usual." Sakura laughs nervously and internally slaps herself for not handling this as well as she should be.

She really just wants to go home and lay down.

Yamato gives a nod and taps his fingers, a little anxiously, against the reception counter. Sakura looks back down at her paperwork because she can't look at him right now. All she can see is the dead of his eyes when he tried to strangle her.

Fear creeps up her throat but Sakura shoves it back down.

He's better. Lady Tsunade made sure that he would be better.

"I hope you're doing okay. Not working yourself too hard." Yamato gives a shaky smile at her and she tries to smile back, tucking some of her pink locks behind her ear.

"Ah, you know me. Workaholic."

He gives a chuckle and looks around before settling his eyes back on her. Sakura avoids his gaze once again as she signs off on another chart.

This is painful. For the both of them. It shouldn't be like this. Awkward and shifty. Sakura can feel hot tears prickling the inner corners of her eyes.

"Look," he starts with a sigh. Yamato, out of habit, looks around before he goes and leans against the edge of her desk. It takes every ounce of restraint she has not to flinch away from him. "Things aren't okay between us, I know that. You need your space and I am more than willing to give you what you need. I needed to get away for awhile too." He frowns and rubs the back of his neck tiredly. "Please look at me."

Sakura puts her pen down and forces herself to give him her undivided attention.

She sees the faint scar on his forehead where she had smashed her skull into his. He decided to let it heal naturally.

"I just want to talk. You don't have to come over or anything if that makes you uncomfortable." He reaches his hand out to touch her face but pulls it back, a little hurt, when he sees a flicker of fear. "We can just go sit somewhere and talk."

A few moments of silence. Sakura feels absolutely awful.

"Alright," she finally replies. "I can do that."

The change in Yamato's face could be measured in miles. His almond eyes lighten, his shoulders relax, and his smile creates a familiar fluttering in her stomach.

Or maybe it's the nausea. She's not too sure.

"Great. Can you meet me tomorrow? At the bench in front of the training fields?"

Sakura gives a small smile and a nod but she slips her hand from hers when he tries to touch it.

Yamato's hand tremors at the loss of contact.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then." He gives a weird, nervous wave before straightening up and turning to leave. Sakura watches his back as he goes. But then Yamato turns on his heels and comes right back, pulling out the hand that has been clenched in his pocket the whole time. He holds it out to her and unfurls his fingers.

"I almost forgot," he says with a smile. A cherry blossom sits in his. Sakura laughs quietly and takes it, cradling it in her fingertips. "It was the only one still alive on it's tree. I found it while I was still out in the field."

Gently and slowly, as to not alarm her, he takes the flower back from her. His knuckles brush back strands of her pink hair and he settles the blossom behind her ear.

"Now it's perfect." Yamato lets his finger trail over her cheek, just briefly, before smiling and taking his leave. He meant to walk out of the hospital without looking back but he couldn't help himself.

Sakura watches him go, smiling when he glances at her over his shoulder. She gives a small timid wave and the sadness in her chest fills her up until she feels like she will overflow.

* * *

"Okay, Ms. Haruno," says the auburn haired nurse from the clinic, "When's the last time you were sick?"

Sakura sits on an examination table as another medical ninja takes her temperature, her blood pressure, and her chakra levels.

"Oh I don't know," she answers truthfully. The kunoichi chews on her lips as she thinks. "Probably about 8 months ago. I caught a nasty cold on the way back from Suna."

The nurse, Ame, takes note of this, scribbling Sakura's answer onto her chart.

"All vitals are stable and normal," the male nurse calls out to his counterpart. He removes the pressurized band from around her arm. Sakura flexes her fingers.

"Do you smoke, Ms. Haruno?"

"No."

"Do you drink?"

"Occasionally."

"When was the date of your last field mission?"

"September 15th." Sakura remembers because she missed Kakashi's birthday.

"And the date of your last menstrual cycle?"

"October-"

Sakura freezes.

No, that's wrong. That has to be wrong. It's the second week of December. Sakura knows she should've had a period on the 16th of November. Her cycle is like clockwork, never late and never early. It came, on time.

Didn't it?

Sakura racks her brain, backtracking through every single day of the month that she can remember.

Ame raises an eyebrow.

"Ms. Haruno? The date of your last menstrual cycle?"

Sakura feels faint. The room begins to spin.

Is it hot in here or is it just her? Sakura fiddles with the neckline of her shirt.

The 16th of every month, she gets her period. She knows she had it in November. It's never-

Sakura suddenly stiffens. She had gone out to Friday Fun-Day with the rest of the Konoha 11. She remembers because Kiba tried to drunkenly hit on her and she punched him in the face.

It was also the day that Kakashi took her to watch the sunset on top of Hokage Mountain.

There's no recollection of Mother Nature ever stopping by. Not a single cramp, mood swing or hint of blood.

Nothing.

Her face goes pale.

The constant throwing up at the smell of bacon, a scent that usually makes her mouth water. Her body's constant fatigue the past few days. She had watched a movie with Kakashi the other night and she made him go get her a pint of ice cream which she finished all by herself, something she has never been able to do.

She doesn't even like ice cream that much.

"I need-" she mumbles, sweating profusely underneath the bright light of the examination room.

"Sakura, are you feeling okay?" Ame asks when she begins to sway, a sickly shade of green sneaking up into the pinkette's cheeks.

"I'm gonna be sick."

She hops down from the table and yanks the door open, sprinting as fast as she can down the hall. The two nurses call after but she ignores them, sprinting as fast as she can. Slapping her hand over her mouth, she nearly dives into the nearest restroom where she slides into a stall.

Sakura retches, praying that her memory might come swimming back to her if she throws up hard enough.

But it doesn't. Sakura finishes and she falls backwards, letting herself slide down the door of the stall as she hugs her knees to her chest. She knows it now, indefinitely.

She can feel the tiny life growing inside of her as easily as she can feel her heart beating.

The kunoichi puts a trembling hand over her belly and lets out a sob.

* * *

It's late. A little past dinner time.

Kakashi hurries up the stairs, take out from a local shop in his one arm.

He didn't mean to let the afternoon get away from him. The copy ninja just simply couldn't resist telling Obito and Rin about becoming Commander. And about Sakura, of course.

Before he knew it, the sun was setting and he hurried into town to grab Sakura a hot bowl of Miso soup in case she was still feeling sick before all the shops closed.

Kakashi's arsenal of cooking has always been limited to breakfast and pre-packaged dinners. Most of his young life, he ate out for dinner, usually bringing it home and giving his leftovers to Pakkun.

Today was a long one. And exhausting. He just wanted to make sure Sakura was feeling alright and then climb into bed with her and knock out for a good twelve hours. Dinner wasn't his primary concern.

His sharingan still aches dully in it's socket as he turns to the right to skid a corner.

He doesn't need to pull out his key, Sakura is already inside. The light from the kitchen glows through the front window.

Kakashi can't help but smile as he pushes the door open, slipping out of his sandals.

"Hey," he says cheerfully, poking his head into the living room to see Sakura lounging on the couch. "Sorry I'm late," he calls out to her as he retreats back to the kitchen. Kakashi pulls the bowl of hot soup from it's bag and sets it down in front of her usual side of the table. He also puts some hot ginger tea to boil, just in case.

When Sakura doesn't answer, he goes back to the living room. She hasn't moved. Not an inch. She must still be feeling pretty bad.

He goes into the bedroom, leaving the doors open as he strips down. Tossing his flak jacket onto his desk chair and peeling off his jonin shirt, Kakashi jerks his head towards the kitchen when Sakura finally looks up to meet his gaze.

He pulls off his undershirt, the mask with it, and gives her an eye crinkling smile.

"I bought you some Miso soup in case you were still feeling sick." Kakashi leans against the doorway of his room, shirtless as always, and slips his hands into his pockets.

Sakura still doesn't respond. The copy ninja frowns.

"You alright?" he asks, concerned as he goes to sit next to her on the couch. He presses a hand to her forehead. "You still don't have a fever. Did you manage to keep anything down today?"

The kunoichi doesn't even look at him. She stares down at the coffee table, her hands curled up into fists on her thighs.

Her silence puts a stutter in his pulse.

"Sakura," he calls, slightly annoyed that she's ignoring him. "What's wrong, love?"

He follows her line of sight and Kakashi finally understands.

The world tilts beneath him, uneasily, as he reaches over and pulls what she had been staring at off the coffee table. He had been so excited to come home to her that he had completely missed it.

His hand shakes as he tries to put a name to the device in his hand.

"Kakashi," she finally says, barely in a whisper.

But it sounds like she's light years away. His senses practically shut down except for his sight. He even opens his sharingan to make sure that he's not looking at this wrong.

They go into tunnel vision, the only thing he can see being the two pink lines in the little window. Characters are written next to it, explaining the significance of the results but Kakashi suddenly doesn't remember how to read.

He claws at his face as he tries to breathe. But his fingernails scrape nothing but the flesh on his nose. The mask is already off.

Sweat starts sliding down the back of his neck, matting his silver hair to his skin.

"Kakashi," she calls again.

His one charcoal eyes tremble in terror as he finally finds the courage to look at her. Her small, delicate hand touches his arm lightly, almost comfortingly. But it trembles just as badly.

He knows it's coming. He can see it in her eyes and in the quiver of her bottom lip.

The ninja suddenly wishes he had stayed longer at the Memorial Stone.

From somewhere in the kitchen, a hundred years away, the tea kettle whistles.

"I'm pregnant."

There is no yelling. There is no confused laughter or jumbled, anxious words.

Only silence.

The shinobi suddenly feels like he has aged twenty years. His bones ache and his head swims like he's drunk.

How long has it been? Five minutes? Five hours?

Kakashi's hand shakes uncontrollably but he calmly sets the test back down on the coffee table where he found it.

He opens his mouth to speak.

But before Sakura can even blink, Kakashi gets up and sprints into the bedroom.

She hears the bathroom door slam shut and Kakashi retches.

Now it's his turn to be sick.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: I know I crank out chapters at lightning fast speed but I haven't been able to find a job since my semester at college is over and I'm back home. I literally have nothing else better to do with my time during the day and you guys keep me inspired.**

**I also write as much as I can, when I can because as of Friday, I will have a job (thank god) and I won't be able to update as quickly as I usually do. **

**But anyway, thank you all for your love and support. It means the world. **

**Love, Rae.**

* * *

Two a.m rolls around and neither Kakashi nor Sakura have found in it themselves to sleep. Exhaustion just doesn't seem like a valid emotion to have at a time like this.

But apparently, to Kakashi, silence is his only option. It puts Sakura edge. The man will open his mouth, shut it, open it again and then retire himself to doing something else. He'll pretend to read, concentrating on a page even though Sakura sees that his eyes aren't moving. He'll get a glass of orange juice, wash it for 10 minutes, and then go clean his bedroom for the tenth time.

He hasn't spoken a word in over six hours.

The man threw up at the news that he was going to be a father.

It literally made him sick. Sakura wasn't too happy that that was the only response he could conjur. But they weren't ready to talk about it.

The kunoichi likes to think that she's knows him well enough now to decipher that his silence is not nonchalance. It is not apathy or indifference as his face might suggest.

It is fear. Pure, unadulterated fear that he is trying to shove down with every passing minute so that he can find the courage to say the right thing. Sakura does not blame him.

She doesn't have the energy to argue. She doesn't have the mental capacity to be angry at him for not sitting down and talking to her about this like an adult. All she can do is sit on his couch, sipping at the tea he keeps making her, and wait for him to decide what to do.

This is his child just as much as hers. So she will be patient.

But Sakura would be lying to herself if she said that she didn't appreciate Kakashi's inability to jump straight into parenthood. Silently, behind her own seemingly calm jade eyes, Sakura panics.

There is a life growing inside of her. There is a human being developing in her womb and it is the creation of her and her sensei.

She panics because, in the amount of seconds that it took her to run to the bathroom at clinic, her life flipped completely; it scattered everything that she has ever known until Sakura stares at the foundation of herself and wonders just where the hell to start building again.

The village will talk. The shinobi won't be able to help whispering and glaring behind their backs and Tsunade will look at her with a dissapointment so vast that Sakura is sure their bond will never fully recover.

Naruto is going to want to kill Kakashi. He'll literally try to strangle him with his bare hands.

And her parents.

Sakura puts her head in her hands and rakes her fingers through her pink hair as she thinks about her mom and dad. From somewhere to her right, Kakashi watches her carefully, pretending to read the newspaper in his lap for the eighth time tonight.

Her parents will murder the both of them. Sakura can already see the hate in her father's eyes when he stares at the man who protected his daughter, who taught her how to be a shinobi, all those years ago. She was a child when Kakashi met her. They welcomed him into their home countless times and he sat at their table, only to sever the trust that they built on the labor of Kakashi's back because in the end, her sensei could not protect her from one thing; himself.

Kakashi's reputation is as good as ruined. They will call him a pervert, they will pass judgement on him because he has committed the ultimate taboo between sensei and student. The Copy Ninja of Konoha won't be spared from ridicule, not even his last name and his fame can save him from the ugliness that is to come.

They, the village and the shinobi, do not know that Kakashi has painfully restrained himself for the past year in order to keep the balance of their lives. He won't show the man that stands before her when the mask is off and the disinterest pushed aside. They will not understand that he cared for her once as a child but now that she is a woman, Sakura is not the same person and he is no longer the same man who once despised the brats his team used to be.

He was forced to mold them into soldiers and when they grew, he came to love them.

One in a different way than the others.

Shame will be passed onto the both of them because the others will fail to see that her and Kakashi did not ask for this. That if they could, they would trade anything to make it stop. But they can't.

Fire consumes fire and it can only grow from here.

"I'm so sorry," she finally whispers. Kakashi stills at the sound of her voice, listening to her break the silence that had cast them into shadows of themselves. Sakura pretends not to notice but he clenches his jaw.

"For what?" he says smoothly. It's too casual, too strained. She wants to shout at him that he doesn't have to try so hard to keep it in. There is enough room for them to shatter.

But Sakura knows he won't. He will wait until she leaves.

Kakashi has to wait to break until he is alone so he can sit in his solitude and torture himself with just how wrong it is that he will be a father. How unworthy he is.

"They're going to be so mean to you." She brings her feet up onto the couch and hugs her legs to her chest. "The shinobi." Her heart beats against her knee and somewhere down inside of her, her pulse acts as a lullaby to a tiny, new life.

It scares her.

"Maybe. Maybe not." He shrugs and goes back to pretending to read the paper. Beneath the table, Sakura can see his hand fisted in the material of his jonin pants.

"You know they are."

He sighs and folds the newspaper up. He leans an elbow on the table, chin in his palm, and looks at her with faux laziness.

How long does he think that his gray eye can fool her?

"I know some who won't. As for the rest, I don't care. It's not their problem."

He says this easily, giving her an eye crinkling smile but it doesn't change his face like it should. His shoulders remain too tense.

Sakura chews on her bottom lip before speaking, quietly, as if she doesn't even wants the words to be said but she has to ask.

"Do you think it's a problem?"

Kakashi stills and he meets her gaze. There it is. That flicker of panic. But it's gone as soon as it arrives.

"It's...a complication. Do you want more tea?" He stands, going over to take her cup and make her some more.

She shakes her head, a little too vigorously and Kakashi is reminded of the genin she once was, demanding that he not lump her together with that obnoxious Naruto and his antics as she shook her head frantically.

He vanishes the thought quickly when he remembers that he impregnated the woman that that child would grow up to be. He hurriedly hides himself away in the kitchen to avoid looking at her.

Kakashi has to restrain himself from throwing his cup into the sink.

"You never wanted to be a father." Her voice is small, almost nonexistent. But he knows that she knows that his ears will hear her. Kakashi crosses his arms over the counter, leaning against it for a few moments where she can't see so he can lose his face for just a moment.

He drops his head onto his forearms and makes a pained expression.

Kakashi never wanted to be a dad. He knew he would never be good at it.

The copy ninja can't find a response good enough to answer her with so he simply stays there against the counter, closing his eyes and trying not to panic.

Yesterday, Kakashi was just a man trying to keep the woman he couldn't bear to lose.

Today, he's now responsible for a life that has yet to be born.

What would his own dad say? How would the White Fang of Konoha feel if he found out that he was going to have a grandchild at the expense of his son ruining the life and career of his own student?

Kakashi shivers as he thinks about the answer.

Her small feet pad softly into the kitchen. He straightens up immediately and reaches into the fridge, grabbing a beer to cover up his loss of control.

He twists the cap off with his strong hand and leans his back against the granite counter, his eyes not leaving Sakura's face as he takes a long drink. He gives an 'ahh' sound, setting the bottle down beside him gently.

The man rubs the silver stubble along his jaw tiredly.

"I've ruined you," she says sadly.

Kakashi crosses his arms over his chest and gives a disbelieving laugh.

"I'm a grown man, Sakura. Fatherhood is just another part of getting old." He chews his next words over slowly, trying not to see the young genin staring back at him instead of the woman that Sakura is today. "It's you that I have ruined."

"Having a baby is part of being a woman," she says, trying to make a hopeful point. But it doesn't sit right in the air. Kakashi takes a few moments to answer.

"Not at your age. Not when you could do so much more." He leaves some words unsaid but Sakura doesn't have to be a genius like Shikamaru to figure them out.

_Not when you could do so much more than settle for me._

"Kakashi, you're going to make a great father. Stop acting like you've already poisoned the kid when he or she isn't even born yet."

He has to turn away from her now. Kakashi acts like he's doing it so he can drain the beer in one gulp. But his stomach churns again when she mentions the gender of his soon to be child. A son or a daughter.

He'll ruin either or.

If it's not by his shitty parenting, it will be by his early death.

Kakashi doesn't have it in him to tell Sakura the news about being Commander for the war that might come.

_Maybe this time around you won't be so risky with your own life, _Tsunade whispers to him in his head.

Damn you, Lady Hokage.

He leaves the empty bottle to sit on the counter as he grips the ledge of it. His stance looks casual but Sakura can see the stark white of his knuckles as he grips the granite too tightly.

Sakura, although she wants to run from all this, although she wants to close her eyes and wish it all away, she needs him.

She can't face this on her own.

The kunoichi slips over to him and wraps her arms around his middle from behind. His defined stomach tightens a little at her touch, surprised by the sudden contact.

He wants to reject it. He wants to shout that he is not worthy to be held like this.

To be wanted.

The ninja leans his head back and closes his eyes, desperation taking over him as he tries to take it all back.

He should've never accepted that wager. He should've never gotten drunk at Shikamaru's party because then he wouldn't have thought it sly to challenge her. He wouldn't have had to go on that date, he wouldn't have offered to train with her all day, every day for as long as he did, he wouldn't have gotten her to be so close.

Sakura, if he had avoided all these things, would've never needed to feel obligated to check on him after Genma's death. She would've stayed away from him and he would still be brooding in his solidarity like he deserves.

He should've been stronger.

Yamato's almond eyes suddenly flash before him and Kakashi slams his fist down onto the counter, angrily, before he can stop himself.

The noise makes Sakura jump away from him.

Kakashi is going to hate himself for this. He is going to loathe himself for what he is about to do.

He turns and Sakura nearly flinches at the coldness in his charcoal gaze.

"I am not not the right man to be the father of your baby, Sakura."

She looks at him, confused. Her hands go limp at her sides.

"_Our _baby," she corrects him, almost inaudibly.

His heart breaks beneath his ribs but he forces himself to look at her.

"As far as I'm concerned, that's Yamato's child growing inside of you. Not mine."

She visibly flinches. But Sakura takes the bait and anger flashes in her jade eyes.

"What the hell are you talking about, this baby is yours!"

Kakashi gives an uncaring shrug. Sakura's knees tremble beneath her as her hands ball into tight fists.

_God forgive me_, he pleads. _Forgive me for being so weak. _

"Does it matter? I don't want it, Sakura. You're right, I never wanted to be a father. Ever. So save yourself the trouble and go back to Yamato. Go back to the man that will actually want the _thing_."

Sakura takes a step back like she has just been slapped.

Over the past few months, Sakura has seen many sides of Kakashi. His usual cool, indifferent demeanor that she has known since she was a child. The fierce, unforgiving man of battle when he is trying to protect his comrades. The exceptional, intelligent soldier and leader.

And when they're alone, she's the Kakashi that holds her hair back when she pukes. The man who prefers to read by the window because for some reason, sunlight and moonlight are easier on his eyes. He's an early bird, can't make a single dinner dish but he can make breakfast as well as her mother. Kakashi has always preferred beer over sake. He brings Sakura soup when she's sick and he calls her love when she's upset. Guy sensei is his best friend, even though he doesn't like to admit it, and the man hates to do laundry. He makes love in bed, he doesn't fuck, and needs to be held afterwards because he says the absence of her skin feels like a withdrawal.

That is the passionate, loving Kakashi that Sakura doesn't think anyone else has ever seen.

But this man standing in front of her? He's a stranger. Cold, harsh, and unfeeling.

Forget his words, his eyes tell her all she needs to know.

The kunoichi shoves him. Hard. His back hits the ledge of the counter and she knows it hurts but he doesn't flinch. He doesn't even blink.

"You're a goddamn coward," she spits at him. Tears well up in her eyes but she refuses to cry, wiping them away with her forearm.

She raises her hand to slap him. Kakashi doesn't ever take his eyes off of her.

And for a second, just for a split sliver in time, Sakura thinks his one gray orb pleads for her to hit him.

But it's gone as soon as it appears.

She lowers her hand and storms into the living room. When she comes back, she's shrugging on her jacket, angrily.

"I thought you were a man, Kakashi." She hurriedly zips her coat up. "But you're nothing but a pathetic little boy trapped in a man's body."

Kakashi finally blinks. And when he opens his eyes again, Sakura is slamming his front door shut.

He stands there for a long time, ignoring the ache in his lower back where she pushed him into the counter.

He runs both his hands into his silver hair, hunching over slightly so that his back curves, and he breathes out shakily,

"God forgive me."

* * *

Sakura jams her key into the front door of her childhood home quickly.

The exhaustion has finally caught up with her. She wants to curl up into her bed and just go to sleep. The kunoichi wants to dream and forget that all of this is happening.

Even if it's only for a few hours, she wants to erase this day from her memory.

But as Sakura swings the door open, shutting it back softly, she knows that it will be useless.

Kakashi and his spiteful words will follow her into sleep and make her sweat through the night, a nightmare disguised underneath the beautiful exterior of her sensei.

It makes her a kind of nauseous that has nothing to do with the baby.

Sakura hangs her coat up in the hall and is about to turn the corner to go up the stairs to her room when the light in the kitchen goes on. The kunoichi freezes, her foot caught in mid-air, about to climb the first step.

She thinks of the time. It's past 3 am.

"Sakura-chan?" calls her father.

What the hell is he doing up so late?

But Sakura has been caught and can't do anything but follow the sound of his voice, trying not to drag her feet. She puts on a tired smile as she enters into the kitchen. Her father sits at the table, drinking tea, his dull-pink hair still spiked up into it's usual style.

"Hey dad," she says with a sigh, sinking down to the floor in front of him. "What's up?"

She can't do this right. Sakura hasn't had time to figure out how to face her parents.

There is a child growing inside of her, his grandchild, and the father of said baby wants nothing to do with it.

How do you face your own father with this kind of secret? How do you keep from falling apart when his blue eyes look at you with a love so bountiful that it makes Sakura want to curl up and cry?

"Why're you coming home so late, Sakura-chan? I would've thought you were staying at your Captain's place tonight as usual."

Sakura freezes. How did they-? Oh. That's right. Sakura had made their relationship rather public for half the shinobi force to see. It's only natural that her parents know by now.

She thanks them silently for being the kind of parents to not pry or scold Sakura ever since she reached adulthood. They trusted her.

And it's that trust that makes Sakura's insides wilt.

"He was summoned an hour ago. Urgent matter. I couldn't sleep once he left," she lies.

Kizashi nods, stroking his dull pink beard softly. "Yes, I know those days quite well."

Sakura gives a small smile. Oddly, her father reaches across the table, palm open. It's a gesture she knows quite well.

The girl puts her hand in his and he takes it, holding it gently as he draws cherry blossoms against the back of her hand.

Sakura seriously wants to cry now.

She does not deserve this kind of love from him. She's a disappointment. A scandal.

"Why did Mom retire from being a shinobi?" she asks softly, watching his fingers draw the familiar pattern against her skin. Kizashi gives a warm smile and squeezes her fingers before letting go.

The absence of his warmth is painful.

"Because we had you, Sakura-chan. Being around to watch you grow was...more important to her than the Will of Fire."

Sakura has to stop herself from holding onto her still flat tummy.

The kunoichi gives a sad, bitter kind of chuckle. Her father looks at her, confused for a moment.

"I feel like I am made of nothing but the Will of Fire."

"But what's wrong with that?" he asks seriously.

"What about when I have my own family, Dad? I don't know if I could give up being a shinobi." She treads carefully. She doesn't want to give him any hints.

Thankfully, her father thinks that the tired circles under her eyes and the strange questions have to do with being the stress a ninja. He doesn't get suspicious.

"You need to realize, Sakura-chan, that being a ninja and having a family is it's own kind of Will of Fire. You don't need to give up one for the other."

Her jade eyes widen a little.

"I don't understand. It seems more..responsible. Because of the fact that shinobi keep having children, we get ninja likes Naruto, Neji Hyuuga and...Sasuke. I don't want to have a child when I could quite possibly never come home to see their face again."

"Oh Sakura-chan. You have so much to learn," he says with a quiet laugh. "The children of shinobi are the most important part of the village. Do you know why?" He lowers his voice to a whisper, feigning secrecy. "Because they will carry on the Will of Fire passed down to them by their parents. The shinobi who decide to have children are patrons of their country because they will provide us with the next generation of ninja. But-" he points his finger at her, almost like he's giving a lecture, "they are even greater parents because from their very birth, they give their children something to live for. To carry on the will of their parents. To carry Konoha proudly on their backs."

He takes a sip of his tea and holds his hands out. Sakura lets him claps both of hers in his.

"What greater gift can a shinobi leave their child, even if they pass, than something to keep them going through the pain?"

He brings both of her hands up to his lips and he kisses her knuckles.

"These are the hands of my Will of Fire."

Sakura can't help it now. She sheds a tear, her vision blinded, and smiles at her father.

"You will be a great mother one day, my cherry blossom."

With that he gets up, putting his empty tea cup in the sink, and heads off to bed. On his way, he pats Sakura on the head and takes his leave.

She stares at her hands and then brings them both to cradle her still unrevealing belly.

"You are my Will of Fire," she says in a barely audible whisper to her unborn child.

Tears stream down her face and Sakura promises herself that this is the last time she will cry for what has happened. This is the last time she will let herself regret the life growing within her.

After tonight, as she sits at the kitchen table of her parents and silently sobs for the difficulty of the road ahead, Sakura promises to give this child all that she has to offer if not more.

She is a shinobi. She is the apprentice of the 5th Hokage. And she will step up to the challenge.

Even if she has to do it by herself.

* * *

"Dude, what the hell is up with you today?"

Kotetsu glares at Kakashi who has not been listening to a word he has been saying for the past five minutes. Izumo, eating his weight in dumplings, finally stops to notice that his best friend is right.

The silver haired man hasn't said a word, let alone moved, longer than usual.

His one gray eye looks up at the bandaged face of his friend and gives an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

The ninja throws his hands up in defeat and goes back to drinking his tea, muttering over the top of his cup.

"Kakashi, you really hurt his feelings this time," Izumo says disapprovingly with a sarcastic tsk, tsk.

The copy ninja sighs. He is really not in the mood for this today.

Kotetsu studies Kakashi for a long time, still pretending to be upset as he brattily crosses his arms over his chest. But once his friend refuses to snarkily comment on the immaturity that Kotetsu has yet to outgrow, the chunin knows that something really is bothering Kakashi. He looks at Izumo who shrugs.

The jonin has already started staring at the crowds of the village pass by in the cold afternoon sun, not bothering to join his friends in conversation yet again.

A child, a little girl no older than 4, drops her dango stick and begins to cry. Her father, a burly civilian with short red hair, stops walking ahead of her and turns back on his heels abruptly. He goes over to his daughter, gives her a pat on the head, telling her he would buy her another one tomorrow. But to no avail, this does not console the child. She continues to wail.

Kakashi watches with a sinking heart as the man lifts her up into his arms and holds her close to his broad chest. The girl sniffles into the collar of his shirt and huddles herself closer to him to get away from the bite of the wind.

He watches them go until they're completely out of sight.

His sharingan spins behind his closed eyelid and makes him relive last night. He was cruel to Sakura. He was indeed cowardly.

But what he did was best for that child and for her.

Yamato would forgive her for her transgressions. The loss of his friendship was just the price that he would have to pay to ensure that Sakura was taken care of.

That his child would grow up with a father that wouldn't ruin him or her right from the start.

It pained Kakashi to breath knowing that he had lost his battle for her. That he had not been a man and taken the responsibility for the life growing inside of her like he should have.

He is a warrior. He is a shinobi above all else.

There is just no room in his heavy heart to be anything more.

She was right. He is nothing but a pathetic little boy hiding in the skin of a man.

He has no business raising a child.

"Kakashi, you're not listening again," whines Kotetsu.

The copy ninja gives a blank stare, feigning cluelessness and rubs the back of his head nervously.

"I apologize, I keep getting lost in thought."

Izumo mutters something that sounds along the lines of, 'Oh really, asshole?'

Kakashi can't help but smirk. "I've just remembered, I have to go take care of something. You guys enjoy the rest of your day. See ya."

"Wait, stop, I didn't even get to the good part of my story yet!" cries Kotetsu, reaching out a hand to hopefully keep his friend from going.

But Kakashi quickly gives a wave and poofs away in a cloud of smoke, his smile aloof and disinterested as always.

The two best friend stares at the spot where Kakashi had just been sitting. Kotetsu's playful scowl quickly turns into a serious, worried expression. Izumo nods in agreement, not needing words to pass between them to understand what that face means.

"Whatever it is that's bothering him," Kotetsu mumbles quietly, "He isn't handling it well."

* * *

Sakura waits patiently on the bench in front of Training Field 10.

She didn't have to ask Yamato which area he meant, she knew automatically. Just as well as she knew the time without it needing to be specified. They've never trained on any other field. When Team Kakashi, under Yamato's watchful eye first formed, this is where the Captain kicked them into shape.

Fond memories surround this place and it almost lightens her mood.

She's traded out her tight black shorts for form fitting black leggings beneath her usual uniform skirt. And she wears a light jacket the color of Konoha's flak vests, the weather no longer permitting her to bare her shoulders and arms.

Sakura absently puts a hand over her tummy as she closes her eyes and listens to the soft whisper of the December wind. She almost swears that Naruto's laughter is carried on the current as well as her own tinkling giggle. By memory, Yamato's smooth rumbling laugh echoes back at her.

Those were simpler times that this training field holds. Nothing crossed into the boundaries of these grounds except for sweat, the labor of one's back, and the iron bond of teammates. Yamato never allowed anything more to cross into their training, even after they started dated. On this field, there was no Sakura and Yamato. There was only Sakura fighting hand to hand with the Captain.

And once Kakashi had rejoined his team, it became the place where Kakashi's gaze, although she refused to acknowledge it, had started to linger too long on Sakura to mean what he tried to play it off as.

Sakura remembers watching him study Sai. And she would catch glimmers of it every once awhile; the look of regret that a foreign face is on his team in the place of someone else. It didn't occur to Sakura until much later that Sasuke's betrayal cut just as deep for him that it did for her and Naruto.

He could not save him. He tried to pull the dark out of the Uchiha's heart with his own bare hands. But Sasuke's hatred has always been much bigger than Kakashi's desire to help the boy that reminded him so much of himself.

Sakura bites back the bitterness of having him once again invade her thoughts.

The kunoichi, as she sits on the bench waiting for Yamato to show up, has to remind herself that Kakashi has made it abundantly clear that her and her child are not wanted. That he has no intention of taking responsibility for what he helped create.

But that's okay. Because Sakura, as she watches the shivering figure of Yamato approach from a little ways away, knows that she needs no man to give the child growing inside her, growing with her, everything that he or she needs in life.

The lean, tall stature of her Captain, and lover, jogs up to her. He smiles lightly, his hands in his pockets as he strolls to a stop in front of Sakura. His nose is red and she can see his arms shivering beneath his jonin shirt. He must've forgotten to put an his mesh armor underneath.

"Hi," he says quietly. "May I sit?"

Sakura gives a quick nod and scoots over to make room for him. Yamato gratefully accepts the space and kinda huddles into himself as another gush of cold wind passes them by. The kunoichi tries to keep her hair from wreaking havoc as she tries to look at him.

He smiles endearingly at the untameable pink locks before flickering his gaze back up to her jade eyes.

It hurts so much to look at him.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long," he begins apologetically, "Lady Tsunade wouldn't stop talking."

Sakura can't help but chuckle at this. She knows just how much the Hokage likes to ramble.

"How're you?" he asks kindly when they slip into a silence. It wasn't awkward. But they came here to talk so talk they shall.

_Pregnant. How about you?_

Sakura bites the inside of her cheek to keep herself from being inappropriate. She forces a half smile.

"Could be better. And yourself?"

Her gives her a chuckle, a half lidded close of his eyes as his lips turn up the way they always do.

"Could be better," he responds as he leans back against the bench, cold hands still stuffed in his pockets.

They stare at training field 10 and Sakura knows that they're both thinking about the same thing. Her and Yamato had their first kiss on those grounds. He asked her to stay behind after Sai and a suspicious Naruto left, feigning important news that he needed to share with her.

All he did once they were gone was wrap her up in his sweaty arms and kissed her. Then he apologized profusely afterwards, embarrassed.

Sakura gives a sad smile as she remembers how happy she had been that he finally plucked up the courage to do it.

"Yamato-"

"Sakura-" they both begin at the same time. He nervously chuckles and, being the gentleman he always has been, he rubs the back of his head with one hand and offers for her to go first.

But looking at him now, nose red from the chill, kind almond eyes relaxed at their proximity, Sakura can't bring herself to poison him.

Not just yet.

"You go. I'll wait," she offers with a reassuring smile. He's about to protest but knows that if he doesn't get out what he needs to say, he never will.

"Well," he starts, nervously smoothing down the material of his dark jonin pants with his stiff hands, "I wanted to start off with an apology." His eyes slide to hers, anxiously. "For what happened."

Sakura swallows down the acid that that memory leaves her with. It is drenched in fear and the ruins of the life that she thought she would have until she died; dancing in the living room with no music, just the beating of their hearts and the softness of his soul.

How foolish she had been.

That life was over the minute that she sat atop Kakashi on a different training ground than this, victorious in her match against him, and stared her wild eyes into his one unmoving charcoal orb.

She didn't realize it until now. But even then, as she shone with sweat and sweet victory, his one uncovered eye quivered with all the things that he could not say. And Sakura was a goner from that moment on.

It makes her unbearably bitter.

"You don't have to apologize, Yamato." She looks back at him and she wants to reach out to touch him. But that will only make things worse. "I was selfish. I knew that you were suffering. You would moan and sweat in your nights at the hospital and wake up with the most terrified look in your eye." She hangs her head. "I pretended to be asleep but I knew. And I did nothing."

"Sakura," he says, a little sternly. It's the tone of her Captain when he tries to make her understand something when she doesn't want to. "How could you have known that it would go as far as it did? I'm sure you've had your fair share of nightmares."

Sasuke's cold sharingan eyes snap into her vision. She pushes it away.

As well as the silver haired ninja burning to death amidst hot flames. She swallows that down as well.

Yamato takes her hand and she shivers at the coldness of his skin. But she holds on to his fingers, relishing in them the only way that she can. He squeezes her hand back before holding it in both his palms.

"Please. Do not try to excuse what happened with something as silly as it being your fault."

Sakura brings his hands up to her lips and she kisses his fingertips softly. Sadly.

"You were my stability. You were the enduring tree in the hurricane that I am. And I let you bend. How could I not blame myself?"

_How can I not take responsibility for ruining you, _she asks herself.

Yamato sighs and reaches out to touch her face. Sakura didn't know she had started crying. His rough sandalwood scented fingers brush her cheek and send away the wetness from her eyes.

"I still am. I still want to be that for you."

The guilt of Sakura's actions. The shame of falling in love with Kakashi nearly doubles her over. She nearly wants to heed the advice of the shinobi who refuses to be the father of her child. She nearly wants to confess to Yamato, get on her knees and beg that he forgive her for her all that she has done, and not make her go through this alone.

But it would be wrong of Sakura. It would be the worst kind of wrong that she will ever commit against him. So she swallows her fear at raising a child alone. She swallows the last, small remaining part of her childhood that tries to convince her to continue to lie to him through her teeth.

Sakura is to become a mother. It is time to leave her childishness behind and be a woman.

"Yamato, I-"

"Sakura, listen to me," he suddenly blurts, grabbing her face gently in his hands. "I did something terrible. Profoundly and unchangeably terrible. And maybe I have become a little bent. And maybe I am weaker than I thought because I brought the blood on my conscience home to you. But it was you who saved me during my capture, not me."

_Stop, Yamato, please don't_, she wants to beg of him. Sakura cannot stand to hear more.

She is not worthy.

"It was you that told me to wait it out, to keep pushing through because for once in my lonely life, I had someone to come home to. I had something to live for beyond dying for my country. And when I am old and wrinkly, barely able to walk but insist on doing D-Rank missions for the Hokage that Naruto will turn out to be, I want to still be the enduring tree in your hurricane. I love you, Sakura Haruno."

Sakura begins to cry profusely now, her tears running over the knuckles of her wood user's hands and onto the sidewalk.

"I am a simple shinobi. I am an even simpler man. But I can take care of you. I can provide for you anything that you want or need, I can give it to you, I can be it for you. Just let me."

Yamato brings her to him and kisses her adoringly slow. His hands curl around her small waist, trying to touch as much of her as he can. Sakura cries what he thinks to be happy tears. He can taste their saltiness on his lips.

She kisses him back but it is not a commitment kiss. It is not a beg for forgiveness kiss like Yamato conveys as he whispers I love you, over and over again against her mouth.

Sakura does not want to do this. She does not want to completely surrender the idea of a life of dancing in living rooms with no music.

But Sakura has made her bed. Now she must lie in it.

"I can't, Yamato."

His lips stop moving. She knows he heard her. She knows that they are sinking down into his insides. Maybe now he might be able to understand the sadness that has been filling her up every time she looks at him.

His fingers just curl a little tighter into her hair.

"Tell me why. At least give me that."

His voice quivers as he leans his forehead against hers, waiting for an answer. And it's in this moment that Sakura knows why she decided to love him all those months ago.

He is the calm before the storm. He is the soothing rumble of the earth as it spins. Yamato still tries to be that, even now as she knows that his heart is smashing in his chest.

His eyes are still kind as they look into hers.

Sakura is so ungrateful.

"You are not a simple man, Yamato." Her fingers slide down to the front of his flak jacket, holding him close one more time before she has to let go. She tugs on it, gently, to emphasize her words. They hold so much weight and she wants him to hear them.

"You are a great shinobi. And an ever greater man." Her voice cracks and she curses her weakness when it comes to emotions, wishing that just for one day, the strength in her body could lend her some help.

"But I cannot provide you with anything that is worthy of such a man."

Her fingers slip down from him and Sakura can already feel his absence winding at her as she takes a step back. She's about to turn to leave but he grabs onto her wrist, gently.

Always gently.

"Tell me who it is, Sakura. Just do me this one favor and I will let it go."

He does not demand it. He does not raise his voice.

It is an honest request, a part of him that needs answering so he can be the gentleman that he is and let her do what she sees fit.

She closes her eyes. He knew all this time and he never even asked.

How typical of Yamato. All he wanted to do was keep her. Even if it meant pretending he didn't smell the scent of another man's skin on hers.

"I am so sorry for what I have done to you," is all she can muster before she walks away.

She refuses to bow her head and cry. She refuses to show the ache of letting such a beautiful tree burn inside of her.

But Sakura is to be a mother. And she must push aside childish things.

So she walks back to the village, head high, and lip unquivering.

She did this to herself. This is the price that must be paid.

Yamato watches her go, unsure of what to do with his hands. He waits, standing in the cold, until he can no longer see the pink of her lovely hair.

His fingers curl into fists and he shoves down the need to call after her.

He is not that kind of man.

Yamato turns on his heels and walks in the opposite direction, the Hokage's words ringing in his ears.

_Lady Tsunade looks right through him. Down to the marrow of his bones. _

"_There is more to Sakura than you will ever be able to understand, Yamato." His right hand restrains itself from tremoring nervously. "You're more than capable of providing for her."_

_ Her eyes know something that he does not. _

_ "But is she capable of providing for you?"_

* * *

Sakura kneels before Asuma Sarutobi's grave, a bundle of fresh shion flowers in her arms. Ino said that they stand for remembrance.

She lays them gently to the side where the longest petal barely touches the characters of his name. Kurenai's latest batch of lotuses are still in bloom, waving their hellos to Sakura in the December air.

The kunoichi leans respectfully on her knees, her hands clasped in front of her. She shoves her sadness down, pushing away thoughts of Yamato's lovely almond eyes, and prays. The sun sets on Konoha behind her.

"Asuma sensei. I know you and I were never very close. Sometimes I feel like you looked at me as a rival just as much as Ino does because you wanted for her to win. I want to thank you for understanding her so well. Team 10 was the best thing that could've ever happened to that girl."

Sakura smiles, her eyes still closed, at the thought of her blonde friend.

"But Kakashi," she tries not to trip over the name, "told me not too long ago that you confessed to him that one day, I would be a kunoichi even more powerful than Lady Hokage. And for that, I thank you deeply." Sakura gives a bow, her pink hair falling over her cheeks, before rising up again.

It's okay to cry to Asuma. He will understand.

"And he also told me that when you were children, and being the prodigy that he is, he graduated at just five years old. No one wanted to be his friend because he was cold, indifferent and well...frightening." Sakura gives a weak smile, wiping the wetness as it stings against her cheek, the cold wind lashing at her face.

"Besides Guy sensei, he told me that you and Genma were the only ones that would talk to him. You were not afraid of him or the legacy of his name. And even though he didn't show it then, even though he tried to push you all away, he cares so much about you because you made him a little less lonely back then."

Sakura's bottom lip quivers now, intertwining her fingers as her prayer becomes more painful to say.

"It's because of that I ask you to forgive him. I know that you, Genma, Yondaime, and his father are watching over him. Watching over all of us. And I know that you know that I am-" Sakura holds down the sob, letting it rattle in her chest, "I am pregnant with his child."

Her hand immediately goes to clench her shirt right over the spot where Kakashi's baby is growing.

"I know that you saw what we did. How shameful our actions were. So I beg all of you to forgive me for doing this to him. And I beg, with all my heart, that you forgive him for the things he said to me yesterday. He is simply not ready to be a father. For that I do not blame him."

Sakura lets out a sob and she leans forward, unable to sit up straight any longer as the crushing weight of her love for that damn Kakashi Hatake makes her cave into herself. Her hands go out to catch herself and she finds herself in a bow, staring down at Asuma's name. Tears splatter his headstone.

"Please help him not be so lost. Please help him see reason that he is not the coward that I claimed him to be."

She leans her forehead down to touch the gravestone, once, before she straightens back up.

Sakura wipes her face clean with the sleeve of her jacket and takes a deep breath.

Mothers do not cry for they do not wish to show weakness to their children.

She takes a deep breath and resumes her previous prayer stance, clasping her fingers before her tightly.

"And I ask, Asuma sensei, that you give me the strength to be the kind of father to my child that I know you would have been to your own."

Sakura takes a long time to open her eyes.

"Amen."

Familiar footsteps trail into the shinobi graveyard as she lets her hands swing back to her sides. When they finally reach her, she looks up at her new companion from the slight turn of her head over her shoulder.

"You're in my spot, cherry," claims the lazy voice of none other than Asuma sensei's favorite genius. One hand, as always, is shoved nonchalantly in his pockets as he tries to scowl down her. He racks his brain to figure out why Sakura of all people would be praying to Asuma.

But then he sees the redness of her eyes.

The ninja sighs, mumbles a 'how troublesome' and sits, with his legs stretched out and his back to Sakura.

He waits a few moments and then it clicks.

The kunoichi sits down slowly, pressing her back against his, and stares out at the sky as it turns shades of deeper oranges and pinks. Sakura watches the sunset clouds with him.

Shikamaru gives comfort in the only way he can. Silence and his unmoving presence.

He doesn't pry. He doesn't even look at her.

He simply sits and talks to Asuma as he normally would, letting Sakura take the strength that she needs from him with just her back pressed up against his.

They sit like that, well into the night, until it gets too cold.

"Shikamaru?" she says as they walk back to the village.

"Mmm?"

"Thank you."

The ninja glances sideways at her and gives her a light shove.

"Shut up, cherry."

He waits until they get far enough into the village to give his quiet reply.

"You're welcome, Sakura."


	13. Chapter 13

Kakashi Hatake opened his eyes to the incessant sound of his alarm clock with blood on his mind.

The moon had not yet take it's leave, still painted lightly in the sky, when it was time for him to head out. After showering, his silver hair still wet at the edges, he sits on his couch, bandaging his kunai holder against his right leg carefully. Next came the armored plates of the Anbu, tugging it over the sleeveless black undershirt that he was required to wear. His swirled red tattoo, the mark of the Black Ops, showed obviously against his naked arm. A momento to the cold, stained existence of his younger self.

One so different than the one he leads now.

Or at least that was what he used to think.

He slips his mask over his face as he stares at himself in the mirror. The sharingan glints back at him uneasily. He hasn't seen the field in what seems like an eternal stretch, forced to stay in the village under the request of Tsunade.

She needs to keep her Commander close.

But today, it can't be helped. She needs this taken care of and Kakashi, she knows, will see it done. She would not be risking his well being, jeopardizing his upcoming role in the clandestine war looming over all their heads, if it wasn't imperative.

The copy nin places his weapons pouch where it belongs, straps his standard issue katana, and grabs the porcelain wolf mask sitting ominously on his nightstand.

It's been a good while since Kakashi has been forced to pick it up.

He holds it in his hand for a few moments, weighing it as if for some reason, it would grow heavier over the years as the blood on his hands kept thickening, calluses upon calluses of lives that he has taken. There was once a time when Kakashi and the Wolf were not two separate beings.

Today will be no different.

Kakashi puts the wolf silhouette to his face and it fits him closely, like an old friend.

On his way out, after grabbing the old black cloak from his closet, he pauses as dawn only begins to break over Konoha. The sky, which was previously dark blues and faint greens when he had first risen, has now been smeared with red amongst the golds and dark burnt oranges. A omen to the bloodshed he would undoubtedly leave in his wake today.

_Maybe when you're a parent someday_, Tsunade mumbles to him inside the quiet of his mind, _you will understand. _

He pulls the hood over his head and takes to the rooftops.

His team does not meet for another ten minutes. He has time.

The jonin, now under the cover of being just another Anbu, skids to a stop on a familiar house. Kakashi climbs easily down onto the balcony of the second story, his footsteps leaving not even a whisper, as Black Ops are trained to do. He peers into the slightly tinted glass of the sliding doors that lead into the bedroom and catches sight of her sleeping soundly.

One leg hangs over the side of the bed, snoring softly as she tends to do.

No bad dreams tonight, he concludes as Sakura continues to rest, completely undisturbed.

Yamato must be taking good care of her, he thinks to himself bitterly. But he brushes the thought away as he stands, preparing to take his leave.

He's made himself stay away from any of his social circles that might brush him up against either his junior or Sakura for the past two weeks to avoid this very occurrence. He has neither the mental capacity nor time to concern himself with any of this. As he made it abundantly clear to Sakura on that night, he does not wish to be involved.

And so uninvolved he shall become.

Except for this ritual. Thrice, Kakashi has been sent out into the field this week in order to scout ahead for the mission he has been assigned today. And every time, just before he departs, the copy nin tries his to luck to see if Sakura has decided to sleep in her own bed on the mornings of his missions. It has not failed him so far.

He watches her, only briefly, to check in.

And to remind himself that although he cannot be the father to their child that she wants him to be, ever present and enduring, he will carry his role in the shadows as a shinobi.

Kakashi heads out into the field, every time, with a glimpse of his unborn child and it's mother so that he can remember not to be too risky with his own life as the Hokage likes to put it.

He has a King to protect now.

"Taichou," calls a voice from above, barely audible. Kakashi glances up. Salamander stands on the ledge of the Haruno's roof, his two counterparts standing off to the side, trying not to pry in their leader's personal affairs. They shift a little uncomfortably. "It's time."

Kakashi gives one last glance through the glass. And for a second, just as he's about to launch up to meet his team, he swears Sakura's eyes opened.

He lands quietly next to his squad member, code named Bear, and nods.

"Move out."

* * *

Shikamaru and Yamato land simultaneously to the ground. Their third team member, a rather rookie chunin, stumbles out from the trees after them. He's got a bad limp from a fall he took yesterday.

The three of them, now that they're home, trek slowly back to the Main Gate.

Yamato is exhausted. His rolls his head over his shoulders, feeling the cricks pop and whine as he tries to flex the muscles in his bad hand. They whine worse than his neck does.

The men nod to Kotetsu and Izumo when they pass the watch station. Shikamaru gives a yawn, stretching his arms above his head tiredly. It's been a long week.

Between scouting for one of Jōmae's stakeouts along the Fire Nation's northern border, an objective that only the Team Leader was aware of, their simple assassination, and breaking in the rookie, Shikamaru and Yamato had their hands full. No doubt that all three men, including the dark blue haired kid who still has painfully more to learn after a trip to the hospital, are dying to go home and get some sleep.

"Hachiro," the older shinobi calls over his shoulder.

The boy tries his best to hurry to catch up but his leg slows him down. Yamato waits impatiently.

"Yes sir?" he asks timidly. He knows he screwed up. Shikamaru can't help but smirk as he casts his eyes downwards when the Captain looks, annoyed, at his limping leg.

"The next time you jeopardize a mission like that with me, I'll be sure to strip that flak jacket right off your dead body." He gives the boy the fear face which visibly makes him tremble. Shikamaru holds back his sniggering. "Now get yourself to the hospital."

Hashiro gives a diluted mumble of 'yes sir; and takes off in a run, his gait growing more obvious by the second.

"Man, I swear, I have never seen you this mean before," Shikamaru says with a low whistle before locking his hands behind his head, a familiar gesture for Yamato as they walk onwards to Hokage Tower to give their report.

The Taichou gives the back of his neck a nervous rub. Had he really been that snippy?

"Just tired is all," Yamato tries to cover up. The Nara boy hums his disbelief, too lazy to actually counter it.

It's early morning. The village has yet to fully come alive except for the few early bird shops here and there as well as shinobi heading out for their shifts. His keen senses pick up a sound that only Black Ops are trained to hear.

The whispers of their footsteps as they head out to the field. Yamato glances up, briefly, to see barely a glimpse of their porcelain masks and black cloaks as they dart above their heads.

Surprisingly though, they didn't go unnoticed by his companion.

"The Anbu have been on the move lately," he mentions quietly under his breath. "I don't like it." Yamato pretends to agree, feigning uncertainty as to why that would be. He knows, of course, but is sworn to secrecy.

"Yeah," he muses distractedly. "Me either."

Yamato doesn't feel like talking today. He's tired and wants to get the debriefing over with so he can go home and sleep. Or at least try to.

"I overheard my Dad talking to Kakashi sensei last night. Apparently, Lady Tsunade has got him leading an Anbu mission today. She must be real worried about something if she's making him dust off his mask and hit the field."

The older shinobi sighs. "That's classified information that you aren't supposed to be sharing just because you heard it by happenstance, Shikamaru."

He gives a lazy wave of his hand.

"Yeah, yeah. My point being, _something _is brewing and I want to know what it is."

Yamato sighs. He isn't far off the mark. The other shinobi are beginning to feel the subtle shift of concentration from simple missions to more aggressive ones with vague objectives. They're starting to notice.

And if Tsunade doesn't act soon, it won't be just the quick ones like the Nara prodigy to want to stick their nose into things where they don't belong.

"Taichou?" the boy asks curiously.

"Mmm?" he answers back smoothly as he adjusts his crooked faceguard.

"How is Sakura doing?"

It takes everything in Yamato's power to not freeze up on the spot. Her name sends acid down into his stomach where it doesn't sit well. He wants to be angry at Shikamaru for bringing her up but the boy doesn't know any better. He forces down the unbecoming words that almost came out of his mouth.

"I don't know. Why do you ask?" he answers truthfully. The chunin makes a scoffing noise.

"What do you mean you don't know? The two of you are dating, aren't you?"

Yamato's right hand tremors, once.

"As of recently, no," he says casually. The captain turns to him and gives him a small, sad smile. He leaves the sting of his own answer to invade into places that are not visible to the naked eye. Shikamaru blanches.

"Oh man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine, Shikamaru. Really." He gives the younger shinobi a clasp on the back. "It happens."

The Nara boy, his mind reeling, is unnerved at the captain's calmness. He's tempted to look beneath the underneath but he knows better than to pry. However, Shikamaru thinks to himself as he chews on the inside of his cheek, scowling up at the clear sky as he examines every angle that he can.

Sakura's behavior is starting to worry him. They've been spending a lot of time together lately, mostly because of Ino having a light couple of weeks in active duty as she helps out at the hospital upon Tsunade's request. However, his pink haired friend has been acting strange for a long time and it's starting to piece together, bit by bit, as he watches her from the corner of his eye.

She's more careful, it seems. Treading every word and every action with a caution that he has never seen her do. Always quick to give snarky remarks, and even quicker to hand out slaps, Sakura has been nearly subdued. She sits quietly, smiles at all the right times, and talks just as much. But it's so forced, Shikamaru wonders how he's the only one who notices.

He for sure thought that her boyfriend would provide him with some insight as to why Sakura has been acting the way she has. And maybe, Shikamaru sighed at the thought, he was simply being a better friend than he usually is and tried to cue Yamato to paying closer attention to his significant other. Sakura and himself have been indeed getting along but something clicked when he watched her cry over Asuma's grave. This kind of prying is not characteristic of him.

Something in his gut gnaws at him and lets him know that maybe Yamato isn't the best person to ask. Not just because he's no longer dating her. But because he has failed to notice that she is not the same.

"What's on your mind, Shikamaru?"

The boy glances at Yamato who by the looks of the furrow of his brow, has been watching him for awhile now. He gives a troubled sigh but waves his hand dismissively.

"Nothing. Just wanna go home and crash," he lies easily.

They walk on in silence, just about to reach the spiraling staircase up to Hokage Tower, when he bristles his pace and goes to stand in front of his junior, one hand on his hip.

"What's the matter with Sakura, Shikamaru? You're a smart boy, you chew your words carefully. You wouldn't have asked me about her unless you had a good reason to."

The chunin nearly jumps back at Yamato's abruptness. He's been caught. Leave it to the taichou, a king in his own game of subtly, to pick up on Shikamaru's train of thought.

It's the intent, concerned way that Yamato looks at him that gives the boy the incentive to trust him with what he knows. Even if they are broken up, he is her captain and he's too civilized, too kind, to hold a grudge against her.

Maybe telling him is a good idea after all. Besides, now that there is a distance between them, Shikamaru can safely ask for someone closer to her than himself to keep an eye out without worrying if they'll be rash and tell her what Shikamaru had said.

The spiky haired male mumbles something about all this being troublesome and puts a hand on his hip, accidentally mimicking Yamato's stature.

"She's not like herself lately. And it seems I'm the only one who has noticed but that's not my primary concern." He thinks of her hunched over in the distance, her head bowed to Asuma's grave and her shoulders quaking like they do when a person sobs. That's obviously private, a moment that he is willing to hold onto and not say a word about to another soul. She found comfort in his sensei and he would not take that from her.

"All I'm saying is that someone needs to keep an eye out for her. She's too quiet as of lately. It puts me on edge." He treads carefully. "I took the cue to be aware of her more thoroughly when I accidentally overheard her crying up a storm a few weeks back."

Yamato suddenly grows more tired than what he already is. He rubs the back of his neck and sighs.

What does Shikamaru want him to do? He hasn't spoken to Sakura since that day. And it's a little too soon for either of them to paying each other friendly visits just to check in.

The captain isn't even sure that he could handle seeing her just yet. The ache is still too raw.

But obviously Shikamaru is concerned and as her teammate, which comes before her lover, or ex-lover to be exact, he is suddenly pressed with the responsibility of keeping tabs on her.

Damn his inability to let this go. He shouldn't have asked.

"Normally I would relay this to Naruto before you because, well, I didn't know if it had something to do with you." He huffs, almost annoyed that he wasn't able to do so because he now has to have this conversation with Yamato. "But Naruto is an idiot who doesn't know a thing about subtlety. I mentioned it to Kakashi before he left my house yesterday but he shrugged it off, useless as always." Shikamaru scowls.

"You would think he would be the slightest bit concerned considering how much time him and Sakura spend together," he adds, a little spitefully to the permanent aloofness that is Kakashi.

This, for some reason, strikes Yamato the wrong way. It doesn't sound right and it takes him a moment to figure out why.

Kakashi doesn't necessarily pay alot of social calls to his two pupils willingly. And Sakura hasn't been training with him so why the sudden change in friendliness? The man has been practically a recluse the past few months.

But obviously just to him.

Yamato doesn't know that Shikamaru's intel is a little outdated. But it makes his shoulders tense anyway. Something ugly gnaws at the back of his mind.

"But anyway, my point being, I know you guys are separated or whatever but just-" Shikamaru searches for the right words as he starts heading up to the stairs for debriefing, "Watch her, okay? You're teammates." Shikamaru presses the importance of the word as he lazily climbs his way up to the Hokage's office.

Yamato can't shake this feeling in his gut that this conversation has left him with as he hurries after his companion.

* * *

Sakura waits patiently in the waiting room of a civilian doctor's office.

She feels awkward, an outsider intruding on something that the regular people of Konoha liked to keep for themselves. Ninja get all the medical care they could ever need with minimal tax requirements. The civilians are not as lucky. But they don't mind because the medical nin tend not to treat them due to the fact that their use of chakra based healing is uncomfortable and foreign to a body that does not use it.

The same way that being seen by a civilian doctor feels somewhat wrong. Let alone a gynecologist.

"You're a ninja," he says, a little bemused as he stares down at her chart after calling her into his examination room. He's an older gentlemen, around 50, with graying hair and soft blue eyes. It's the last and only time that he mentions her status in the village while he gives an examination. Sakura decides that she likes him right away.

Unlike what most doctors would do, he does not ask about the father. He does not ask about Sakura's decisions to keep the baby or pry into why she does not get the medical attention best suited for a ninja. There's hardly a difference between the them, really. Even for ninja, having a baby is happens the same way as a civilian.

If Sakura went to the hospital for this appointment, the kunoichi is required by law to be taken off of active duty. This would mean cornering her in a room with Tsunade, livid about the fact that Sakura could quite possibly ruin her career with this mistake. And then the questions about who the father is will come and Sakura does not want the Hokage bullying him into taking responsibility.

And if Tsunade knows, everyone will know eventually about Kakashi Hatake's child growing inside of her.

Sakura is simply not ready. She's bending the rules but this is her child and hers alone.

What's best for her right now, and Kakashi, no matter his absence, has nothing to do with making her pregnancy the spectacle that it would be once she's placed on maternity leave.

The shinobi world would have to wait.

"Okay, Ms. Haruno," Dr. Yoshida begins, pushing his glasses onto his head, "It seems that your first prenatal visit is a little late. You're about seven weeks along."

She guessed as much. Sakura is a medical ninja after all, she did the math and her guess was a just a week off, more or less. All the same, her arms go around her abdomen softly, still having to remind herself each and every day that this is real. His final assessment of the current longevity of her pregnancy is a harsh taste of reality.

By next week, there will only be 7 months left until Sakura holds her baby for the first time. It all seems too surreal.

Sakura suddenly has a headache.

"All your bloodwork came back fine. As expected of a kunoichi, your health is in mint condition. I've prescribed you the necessary prenatal vitamins that you are not to miss, not a single day. And I've gone ahead and rescheduled you for your next visit in about three weeks time."

Sakura nods, this rush of information a little too much to take in. Not that it's anything new or different. She's a medical ninja. Knowing the ins and outs of pregnancy is part of her job.

She just never thought it would be apart of her personal life so soon.

"Ms. Haruno," the doctor says cautiously. Sakura focuses her eyes back on his face and gives a sheepish smile, caught getting lost in thought. "I know that you came to me seeking privacy. And I have been respectful of that since you walked through my doors. But as your doctor," he sighs, closing her chart and taking a seat in his chair. He rolls over to Sakura and puts a warm hand on her knee. A simple, innocent gesture. Concern.

"As your doctor, I must insist that you report this to the Hokage. A pregnant kunoichi has no business in the field." He does not scold her. His voice is soft, almost reassuring.

"I am not trying to rush off and endanger my life, sir," she says slowly, no longer able to look him in the face. "Arrangements can be made for me not to leave the village on missions without needing to reveal myself so soon. I just-"

She looks up at him, almost pleadingly. And the look on his face tells her that Sakura isn't the first ninja trying to hide away the life growing inside of her. She takes comfort in this and surprisingly places her hand on his.

He's the only person in the world who knows besides the father that this life has been made. It makes Sakura eager to make him like her and to make him understand why this has to be done this way. But from the way he gives a small chuckle and reaches into his lab coat pocket, Sakura knows she doesn't have to.

She feels a little less alone.

"I understand. But please, do not make the mistake that some kunoichi have made in the past. Your body is athletic and combative in nature, which is why you have been spared from showing too much already." He finally finds what he had been looking for and hands it to her. "But don't wait until it's too late."

Sakura stares down at the print of the ultrasound he had gave her during his exam. It's mostly grays and blacks, curving and bending to depict the walls of her womb. But right there, towards the left hand corner, is her baby. It looks like no bigger than a blueberry. And if Sakura squints hard enough, she can see the beginnings of limbs.

It makes her heart jump once, nervously, but then it swells. Her baby has feet.

"There's two copies there, just in case you wanted to give one away."

He doesn't finish his sentence but Sakura knows his words anyway. She bites her lip.

When she stared at the positive pregnancy test, waiting for Kakashi to come home, she did not think that her first ultrasound would be experienced alone.

How foolish she had been.

Sakura tucks the two pictures into her pouch and gives Dr. Yoshida a bow.

"Thank you. I will see you in three weeks!" she calls, almost cheerily as she exits her examination room and back into the lobby.

Wow, her baby has feet.

A woman seems to begin to recognize her but she hurries her feet and is out the door before the civilian has a chance to confirm that it is the apprentice of the fifth Hokage walking out of a gynecologist's office. The kunoichi steps into the bright sunlight of midday and making sure that no one saw her, she takes to the rooftops and hurries over to the hospital to begin her shift.

Her thoughts drift to Kakashi and she nearly laughs out loud.

One thing is for sure. Their child will have no choice but to have an outrageous head of hair, either pink or silver. Sakura can almost begin to hear an indistinct cry of how all the others kids keep picking on the Hatake-No, the Haruno child because their hair draws too much attention.

What would've been a nice moment, a rare occurrence as of lately for Sakura, is ruined as she contemplates her previous stumble intensely.

The Hatake name is a proud one now. The name of an honored and powerful shinobi, followed by an unparalleled legacy that dates all the way back to Lord Third and soon to be Naruto.

It feels like a crime to strip her child of the name of their father before they are even born.

But not as wrong as it feels for Sakura to know that her baby was robbed of a second parent before they could even grow fingers.

She clenches her jaw, silently cursing Kakashi. It hurts to think about him. A burning, unfathomable anger at what he has done, what he has stolen from their unborn child bubbles up in her stomach with the acidic taste of rage.

But then Sakura feels guilty almost immediately as she leaps onto another rooftop and sees Kurenai down on the ground level, pushing her son in a stroller while Guy sensei tries to get him to laugh with funny faces. He's failing miserably, the almost toddler suddenly bursting into tears.

There are worse ways, Sakura realizes, to become a single parent.

* * *

Kakashi stares out at the nine enemies in formation. His Anbu team waits, their chakras flaring slightly with the adrenaline of the battle that is to come. Calculating, observing, he does not make the first move.

In the shambles of false talks of continued neutrality that Tsunade had so willingly told him about, another more sinister agreement had taken its place. His war was finally beginning to show it's ugly face as he realizes that this is what he had been truly sent out here for.

After weeks upon weeks of under the table attacks, a death here, a few there, it finally began to stitch together seamlessly. This would be the last straw. This would be the last half-hearted attempt to evade what was to come.

There would be no more supply disruptions. No more assassination attempts to distill the enemy forces from making any progress. The time for small, escalating skirmishes is over.

The Commander needs to shed the first blood of his own war.

He stares out at the Jōmae shinobi, caught red handed in the process of communicating their acceptance of the three way alliance between the representatives of the Waterfall and the Sound. Tsunade's fear has just been realized. And as ordered, Kakashi must put this down, frame the Sound for betraying both Jōmae and Waterfall so that Konoha can buy enough time to prepare to hit the Lock Village head on.

The copy ninja thinks of his unborn child.

Kakashi gives the enemy a hard look behind his porcelain wolf mask. He sees a Sound ninja stiffen at the bright gleam of the sharingan in the dark.

Not even bothering to look back at his team, Kakashi ignites a chidori in his open palm.

"Leave none alive."

* * *

Yamato somehow ends up at Ichiraku with Naruto and Sai before he has a chance to tell them that he is not in the mood. The prime hour of business for Konoha's nightlife has arrived as people spill continuously in and out of restaurants, bars, and anything else that is open, even if it is cold out.

The captain stares at his bowl of ramen, half finished. He didn't even want to eat the first portion of it but it would've been rude. Naruto had offered to pay for him just in exchange for Yamato's company.

Naruto was about to order his second bowl when a familiar voice drifts into the noodle shop, the door sliding closed softly behind the new customer.

"Sorry I'm late, Tsunade wouldn't let me leave."

Yamato nearly drops his chopsticks onto the floor but hastily recovers. There's an excited clamor from Naruto and the usual, polite yet contradictory insult from Sai.

Silence falls over the two boys as they wait expectantly for the captain to turn around in his seat and greet the remaining member of their team, no matter how much he doesn't want to. Already, maybe just from pure instinct now, he can tell that she had not anticipated him being there and began to shrink away from him.

How did she think this was going to play out? How well did Sakura mull over leaving him?

Obviously not well enough if she keeps failing to realize that incidents like these are going to continue to happen. Neither of them have decided to tell Naruto and Sai that they have broken up.

The awkwardness is thick in the air. From the corner of his eye, Yamato can see the sickly pale boy's face scrunched up in concentration as he tries to take away the social cues necessary to decipher this situation.

The captain, with an internally bitter sigh, turns around in his seat. He offers a pleasant smile, trying not to dwell over the way Sakura's nose has turned pink from the bite of the chill outside.

To all but her, Yamato can fool anyone into thinking that he is still being calm.

"Nice to see you, Sakura," he says smoothly, "How're you?"

He leans down and slurps up some more cold ramen, the noodles turning to ash in his mouth.

Sakura recovers quickly, taking his hint to hurry up and say something before things get unnecessarily uncomfortable for all them. She sits down on the empty bar stool next to Naruto and gives a strained smile.

"I'm doing great. I heard you went on a strenuous mission with Shikamaru this week from a very ill mannered chunin that ended up in my care today."

Teuchi, knowing his regular customer's order by heart, sets down a steaming bowl in front of Sakura. She breaks apart her chopsticks, hands shaking a little, and takes in a mouthful of noodles.

Naruto stares at him, sourly, when he takes too long to reply.

"Ah yes, Hashiro. A very green chunin. He took a fall from the treetops during a pursuit and nearly gave away our position. But we succeeded in the end so all is well."

He gives one of his signature soft smiles, closing his eyes as Sakura nods before turning away from him, deciding pleasantries were no longer necessary.

Naruto, thankfully, saves the captain from having to talk any further, giving the taichou a slight case of the cold shoulder.

"Sakura-chan, why didn't you come to Friday-Fun Day with us last night? Kiba sure missed you." The blonde says with a wolfish grin, eyebrows raised. Sai pretends not to notice that Yamato's right hand crushed his chopsticks into splinters.

But Sakura did. She keeps her shoulders from slumping, trying not to dampen the mood of her best friend as he continues to recount to her the antics from last night's weekly drunk fest. The pinkette tries to listen intently, laughing at the appropriate times while Sai continues to glance sideways at Yamato, watching his movements.

"Have you seen Kaka-sensei around? I've been wanting to train with him but I think he's been avoiding me." The jinchuuriki gives a slight pout. Sakura tries with all her might not to get angry about the mention of his name in the presence of Yamato. He doesn't even seem to be listening.

"No, I haven't seen him in a week or so, Naruto. He's been rather busy with-"

Yamato's shoulders tense. Kakashi's role in Jōmae's hostility has been kept classified. Sakura should not have even inkling of what he's doing.

The girl catches herself as she remembers that his ongoing mission, something she barely knew the details about but got the gist, was not information she should know. Her eyes flicker to the captain who stands, obviously getting ready to leave.

Naruto, now suddenly regretting his earlier actions to his teammate, puts a gentle hand on the captain's outstretched one, waving away his money. The kunoichi gives a sigh of relief as she jumps away from the conversation about Kakashi eagerly.

The ultrasound pictures attempt to burn holes through her pouch.

The gesture makes Yamato nearly sigh with relief himself as he sees Naruto drop some bills beneath his captain's empty bowl of ramen. Maybe he won't be shunned after all.

"Do you have to go so soon, Taichou? I wanted to hear about your mission with Shikamaru." The blonde gives an annoyed huff when Yamato stifles a yawn, stretching out his arms above his head.

"Maybe some other time, Naruto. I'm rather exhausted. But don't forget that we have our team training in a few days, alright?"

The jinchuuriki gives a grin, remembering their pending session, and gives a two finger salute. Coldly, the gesture reminds Yamato of the boy's sensei.

"Goodnight, Taichou," adds Sai politely. The captain gives him a nod.

A knowing look passes between them and Yamato shakes his head, almost unnoticeable except to the Root member's keen eyes.

_Don't ask_, the action says.

Sai drops his eyes to his empty ramen bowl in response.

The captain's fingers clasp onto the door handle as he begins to slide it open. But he freezes when Sakura speaks directly to him, her voice hesitant but clear.

"See you around, Taichou."

Reusing his formal title, something that has been foreign to her lips for quite sometime now, makes his insides twist. But he forces to make himself look at her, giving a kind smile.

Sakura tries not to stare at his almond eyes.

"Goodnight, Sakura."

And with that, the man takes his leave. Sakura wishes he would take this awful feeling in her throat with him.

"You two should really put your petty romantic relationship aside for the good of the team, Ugly."

"How did you-" she begins.

"Even Stupid over there could see that you two no longer have any interest in dating each other. I'm curious. Was it Yamato who broke it off or you? I wouldn't blame him for not wanting to keep seeing such an ordinary thing like you."

His words are harsh but Sai has yet to realize that the wound is still too fresh to give out insults as pick me ups like they usually do. He smiles in his plain, overly trying way.

"Oi, shut up, leave her alone!" says Naruto when Sakura's shoulders slump.

"No, he's right. I decided to break things off with Taichou. It just-" she chews her lip, hating having to lie to Naruto and his concerned blue eyes, "wasn't working out. But neither of us should let that get in the way of our team functions."

Worriedly, the blonde studies her face for a moment. He pulls Sakura into a hug and she stiffens, not used to the physical affection. But his ever present warmth feels nice and she buries her face thankfully in his chest.

Sometimes Sakura forgets how much she needs Naruto until he's standing right in front of her.

"So you're coming to train with us on Monday, right Sakura-chan?" he asks eagerly, putting her at arms length now to beam at her. "You and Taichou can work on not being so weird around each other then! There's nothing like a good sparring match to lighten the mood!" He gives another wolfish grin and Sakura tries to return it, although feebly.

The thought of being trapped in training with both Yamato and Kakashi in the same place, at the same time makes her want to throw her ramen back up.

The little life inside her seems to agree.

* * *

Yamato watches fire consume Akira until the boy's screams finally stop.

Water drowns him, tries to fill every single space and cell of his body until he stops being the forest and becomes the river. He can't breathe. But a part of him doesn't want to.

He stares at Raido from behind the wall of crystalline water, watching as his friend is pummeled into the ground with boulders bigger than his skull while he can do nothing but lie there and let his bones be crushed.

Dread fills Yamato, even in his sleep. He looks up at Yoshirou, his hand on the chakra cage, flowing his malice into it. He says something to the captured leaf ninja that can only be described as foreboding.

War will consume them all. Yamato feels it in his lungs that burn to take a breath.

But then the scene shifts.

He watches outside of his own body as he makes love to Sakura.

Out of the countless times, he remembers this one well. It was the night of the incident.

In horror, melancholy, anger, but most of all longing, he relives this moment. Sakura's pink hair is splayed artfully against the stark white of his bed sheets. Her lips curl in a moan and one smooth, creamy leg wraps around his waist. His shoulder blades contract with every meaningful push, head tilted back as he sees stars explode across the ceiling.

But watching from where he is, from the side lines of his own mind, Yamato sees it.

The clearness of her eyes. Not the cloudy haze of sex and release.

She looks up at Yamato almost sadly.

His hair begins to turn white at the roots, bleaching his chocolate hair and lengthening. Sun tanned skin becomes paler, the dimensions of his body lengthening or thickening to fit the frame of a man he knows well.

Kakashi Hatake hovers over Sakura, kissing her passionately as he tangles his hands in her pink hair. Yamato watches with a growing sickness at how the muscles of his strong back move beneath his skin the same way he had just seen his own do a few moments ago. His name falls off her lips and her toes curl, the wild insatiable film that she did not grant Yamato now covering her viridian eyes.

The captain wakes with a start.

He sits up in bed abruptly, sweat matting his hair down to his forehead. He shakes.

His eyes slide over to the empty side of the bed where Sakura once slept night after night, convincing him that no other woman would ever belong in his bed as well as she did.

The captain gets up and goes over to stand at his window. He leans his head against the cool glass while Yamato closes his almond shaped eyes and tries to shake the image of his superior laying her down and pouring every fiber of his soul into her. It haunts him just as much as Akira's screams.

The wood user's mind starts reeling, putting numbers and facts together until Kakashi's face as he throws himself over the ledge of his own pleasure is the only thing that he sees.

"_You'd think he'd be more concerned considering how much time he spends with Sakura."_

"_No, Naruto, I haven't seen sensei in a week or so. He's been busy with-"_

"_Shikamaru, that's classified information."_

"_I got it, Yamato. I'm finished drinking for the night."_

"_Sakura, it's like you're a million miles away."_

"_I'm sorry, she's not here. She went home early this morning."_

"_Kakashi, I just want to take care of her."_

"_I know, brother."_

Yamato swipes a hand over his nightstand, shouting angrily at nothing in particular when it dawns on him. Books and his lamp get thrown against the wall and Yamato can't help but slam his forehead against his own windowpane, trying desperately to get the truth to go back to where it emerged from in dark of his mind.

It was staring him right in the face and he had failed to see it.

But Yamato can't help but chuckle bitterly at the irony of it all.

The Great Kakashi Hatake. Once again proving why he will always be the senior.

The retaken Team Kakashi photo, the one that actually included both jonin this time, now lays on the floor in a shattered heap.

* * *

Kakashi's knees give out as he approaches the main gate.

The body of Bear, whom he had been carrying on his back, skidded a few inches away from him when he fell, unable to keep her in his grip. Her porcelain mask went flying and clattered to the ground in front of the guards who were immediately on their feet and running.

Sunlight blinds him as he rolls himself over onto his back, relieving the pain in his leg.

The copy ninja feels hands on him, trying to haul him up but he wrenches himself from their grasp.

"I'm fine, get Kagami to the hospital," he barks. "My second in command is 20 feet behind us, collapsed. Send someone-" Kakashi groans as he pushes himself up to stand, "to get him."

They're not moving fast enough for his liking.

"Now!"

"But Wolf-san, where is the fourth member of your team?

Kakashi's silence tells them all they need to now.

The guards take off sprinting while two others carry Bear, the girl who dubs herself Kagami, to the hospital. Kotetsu, recognizing Kakashi's voice, sweeps underneath his arm to help the copy nin, trying to secure him around the waist.

"Where is the Hokage?" he demands.

"Where do you think?"

Not meaning to be so harsh, but with urgency tinting his voice, he shoves his friend off of him, already limping as fast as he can into the heart of the village. Kotetsu, knowing better than to push his luck, simply trails behind him in case he collapses again.

He leaves a thin trail of blood in his wake.

They take to the rooftops once they get close enough to encounter civilians. Kakashi nearly loses his footing just as it passes over the ledge of the building. He almost falls, his body too slow to react quick enough. But Kotetsu is already there, grabbing the front of his armor plate and hauling him up to his feet.

Nodding to him, both men sprint as fast as Kakashi's injured leg can carry him to the hospital.

"She's been poisoned, her airway is constricting," says Tsunade calmly as she hurries beside Kagami's stretchers. Nurses and medical ninja alike prep the surgery room just as Salamander rolls in through the hospital doors on his own stretcher, seizing terribly, spit dribbling from the corner of his mouth.

"What've you got?" the Hokage calls to Shizune. The short haired medical nin pulls on gloves and takes the mask off of Salamander. He's a handsome young man with long black hair and vivid violet eyes that are currently rolling back into his head. Shizune's hands ignite with green chakra as they roll him into the surgical wing, just behind Kagami.

"Brain swelling from blunt force trauma to the head. His liver has been punctured by his rib and one of his kidneys has been compromised."

"Alright, take him to OR 2. Sakura, you're with me."

The pinkette merely nods, already sitting ontop of Kagami as she slices an incision into the woman's throat. Blood spills neatly onto the white sheets but Sakura is quick to but a thin tube into the opening, unable to ventilate properly through the mouth due to constriction. A pump becomes attached to the end of the tube that another medical nin adjusts for her as Sakura gives a loud pop to the woman's heart with her fist when it stops beating.

Accurately securing a pulse a few seconds after jolting the organ back to life, the kunoichi pumps air smoothly into the girl's lungs.

Bear's eyes are wide with delusion no doubt as effects of the poison. She keeps trying to lash about, attempting to throw Sakura off of her but the pinkette manages to sit on her legs to keep them from flailing anymore.

"Hold her arms down!" she demands as they're wheeled into OR 1.

"Keep that woman breathing, Sakura!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Other medical ninja begin to work on her severed arm. It's in danger of causing her to hemorrhage and bleed out. Sakura is surprised she hasn't already.

The smell of iron and urine permeates the air as the girl's bladder goes.

Tsunade, after swabbing a cotton swab into the girl's mouth between her trying to wrestle the medics and Sakura's hollering to keep her steady, the Hokage drops it into a chemical that instantly turns a bride shade of orange.

She's about to get started on an antidote when Kakashi Hatake bursts into the room. Hospital personnel race after him, screaming about how he has no clearance to be back here. Sakura looks up and her heart freezes in her chest like Kagami's did only a few moments ago.

This is his team.

The Black Op beneath her chokes beneath Sakura and she forces herself to look away from him, continuing to squeeze air into her lungs. Two medical ninja try to haul him out by his arms to get him treated but he slams one into a nearby wall and breaks the nose of the other in a blur of motion.

"Kakashi, get out of here!" Sakura screams at him, startled by his violence.

"Lady Hokage, it's begun," he pants. "We're at war."

His eyes slide over to the kunoichi straddling his teammate as he slumps against the doorframe. Their gazes meet from across the room before it drops to look at her stomach where his child is growing amidst the blood and sweat of a battle's aftermath.

Kakashi collapses.

Just as he is about to pass into unconsciousness, he swears he can hear Sakura calling his name.


	14. Chapter 14

"Sakura-san?" asks the timid voice of a young genin nurse. Her gold brown eyes look between the kunoichi's annoyed face and the ground, hesitating.

"Spit it out, Kiran."

The girl jumps at Sakura's tone and stammers. Sakura almost tries to apologize but knows there is no point. The trauma center has been busy today and everyone is snippy. It just comes with the job.

"He's doing it again," Kiran finally manages.

Sakura's nostrils flare as she snaps the file of Kagami Yoro, closed, placing it back in it's respectable plastic container at the foot of the patient's bed. Little Kiran scurries away to avoid the quarrel that she knows is about to come as Sakura marches up the hall to the patient that has been giving everyone too much trouble since he got here.

She enters and immediately, her eyes narrow at none other than the father of her child as he aggressively making a show of pushing around the medical ninjas trying to restrain him.

"All of you out," Sakura barks. They look at her with wide eyes.

"But-But Sakura-san, he's being unreasonable-"

"Go!"

They all scurry away, not wishing to provoke her wrath any further, shutting the door behind them. Just as they leave, Sakura can hear one of them mumble that just because he was her genin teacher, she doesn't get privilege over him.

This does nothing to help her mood.

She shoves Kakashi back down onto the bed when she sees him trying to unhook himself from the monitors and the IV now that the attention has been turned away from him. His eyes flash in anger.

"I want to leave."

"That's too bad," she retorts. "You haven't been given clearance yet." She takes his chart and starts glancing over it. Broken leg. Shallow wound from the right hand side. Dehydration and severe chakra depletion. Refuses to comply. Sakura sets her jaw angrily.

He's agitated, moody, and desperate to get out of the one place he loathes to be. She would almost take it personally if she didn't know that the man would rather die of gangrene than stay cooped up in a hospital.

He once told her that too many bad memories roam these halls.

But Sakura has decided to make him suffer a little by keeping him a little longer than necessary.

"I don't need anyone's clearance, I can sign myself out," he says, making it a point to slick his casual tone with annoyance.

"Do it and I'll report you to the Hokage for insubordination." She doesn't even spare him a glance, taking notes onto his chart about his vitals. Her voice is smooth and direct. It makes him freeze while tearing the monitors off his chest.

"_Insubordination?" _He spits the word like a profanity. Sakura's gaze snaps back up to him and she looks at him coldly.

"Yes, Kakashi-_sensei_," he flinches at the honorific, "because this is_ my _hospital and when you're in _my_ hospital, I outrank you."

"Sakura-" he warns between his teeth.

"So you have two options, lay down and stop behaving like a child or I'll sedate you for lack of compliance. Your choice."

The two stand off, neither of them daring to make the first move. Kakashi tries to slow his breathing as he nearly seethes, the growing stubble on his jawline more prominent as he clenches it.

Did Sakura seriously just give _him_ an order and acted like it was the most natural thing in the world? That girl would be dead if it wasn't for-

He lets it go and sinks back against the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

When he doesn't show any more signs of attempting to flee, the kunoichi gets to work on setting up a new IV. She takes a fresh syringe, after hooking it up to the bag of fluids beside his bed, and grabs his hand.

Sakura pretends not to care when he winces at her touch.

Without warning she pushes the sharp point into his skin. His veins turn ice cold as fluids begin to drip into his blood once again. Kakashi tries not to shiver.

They don't look at each other as she gently pulls down the collar of his shirt to reattach the monitors to his chest. She doesn't let her fingers linger on his pale skin.

It appears she's fed up with him as she sets his chart back down and leaves the room.

Kakashi doesn't even convince himself as he gives a sigh of relief. He's already attempting to dig out the needle in his arm a few minutes later when she reappears, a stack of manila folders in her hands. She narrows her eyes at him and he instantly drops his hand from trying to slip the IV out.

He gives her an irritating eye crinkling smile.

"You're kidding me, right?"

She gives an exasperated sigh, and plops down into the chair next to his bedside, charts strewn across her lap.

They fall into silence and Kakashi tries not to be too uncomfortable at her presence.

It stops working after awhile.

"I don't need a babysitter."

"Obviously you do. You bit Daichi this morning."

"He deserved it."

"It's his job to help you go to the bathroom, Kakashi."

"Oh so it's _just _Kakashi now?"

"Are you even going to ask about your teammates?"

"You haven't said they're dead so there's no need."

"Why are you so irritating?"

"Why are you still here?"

The question lingers between them. Kakashi knows he's acting out but hospitals fill him with dread and he's taking it out on every possible living thing. Especially Sakura.

If he's teasing her and being mean, he can almost pretend that she's not carrying his child.

Almost.

"I went to the doctor yesterday."

"You see doctors everyday."

Her eyes snap up to meet his and he instantly regrets being too sarcastic. She could probably slip poison into that IV bag and he would never even know.

"To a gynecologist."

He raises one silver eyebrow. She doesn't say anything more.

Kakashi shouldn't ask about the baby. He should pretend that he doesn't care. His awful words from before come spinning back to him in the present. He knows it would be wrong to ask.

But that doesn't stop him.

"Everything is okay...right?"

Sakura had been staring at her charts, not really reading what she had been seeing. His question startles her and he watches her lovely jade eyes refocus on his face.

Kakashi suddenly wishes he had shaved.

"Yes, everything is fine. August 10th is the due date."

His heart clenches beneath his shirt, causing his monitor to quite literally skip a beat. The beeping alerts Sakura and she raises a pink eyebrow at him. He shrugs, nonchalantly as always, trying to play it off.

They fall into the void of their silence again. Kakashi's left hand gathers the white bed sheet into his palm tightly when it stretches on.

Why is she sitting here? Surely just to torture him and remind him of his own cowardice.

"_Go back to Yamato, Sakura. Go back to the man that will actually want the thing."_

Kakashi shuts his eyes tightly.

"She has feet."

The copy ninja starts, swiveling his gaze to her apprehensive face.

"Sorry?"

"The baby. She has feet already."

His heart monitor starts beeping quickly again. Fed up, Kakashi rips the thing off his chest but Sakura does nothing to stop him.

They look at each other from across the room. Kakashi's mouth suddenly tastes like cotton.

"She?" he rasps after clearing his throat.

Then a smile graces the room and Kakashi has to look away, trying not to think of what old gossips always say about women who are with child. But apparently they were right.

Kakashi could turn off the lights and Sakura's face would glow.

"It's still way too early but I'd like to think it's a girl."

He rolls his eyes.

"Girls are dramatic. And needy."

"You're those things and you're a man."

Kakashi keeps himself from grinding his teeth. The kunoichi smiles down at her charts, trying not to chuckle. He narrows his gaze coldly.

"I'm sure Yamato wants a son instead."

Sakura goes rigid, her hand freezing in the middle of writing a word. He regrets his comment immediately as she starts packing up here paperwork to leave. Folders slam shut after individual documents get hastily thrown together, not seeming to care about order any longer.

Kakashi wants to take it back but it would be useless.

The copy ninja has to remind himself that this is what he wanted, not what he forfeited.

Even so, they still feel like one in the same.

He morphs his expression into one of uncaring, his head leaned back against the pillow as his one gray eye watches her get up. His hands lock behind his head casually, breathing slower than usual so he doesn't make any rash decisions.

Like call her back to him.

"Here," she says as she passes by his bed. Reflexes regained, he catches it easily. "The doctor gave me two."

The door slams behind her and Kakashi's stomach tightens. He drops his silver head into one hand and stares at the ultrasound picture in his fingers. They refuse to stop shaking.

Sakura was right. He can see the beginnings of hands and feet on this tiny life barely big enough to be captured in a photograph.

His thumb strokes the shape of what would be his son or daughter and sighs.

"You understand, don't you?" he gently asks, feeling foolish but unable to stop himself. Kakashi searches the picture, as if all the answers to his questions will be etched into the baby's nearly miniscule fingers. "I've shed blood for you."

His head snaps up when he senses someone's chakra presence coming his way. Kakashi instantly stashes the ultrasound picture into the waistband of his pants, a protective hand thrown over it casually, and slips his mask back over his face.

Daichi, the medic whom he sank his teeth into earlier, stands in the doorway.

Kakashi smirks and the man tries not to squirm away.

"You've been released to go home by Sakura-san. But you've been summoned to a War Council meeting in Hokage Tower immediately."

The copy ninja's lips fall back into a thin line. He nods.

When the medic leaves him to get dressed, a fresh standard jonin uniform laid out for him on the chair, Kakashi sighs and stands. His leg is still sore, giving him only a slight limp.

But he goes over to it and slips on his clothes, silently.

Commander of the Armed Shinobi Force of the Leaf.

The title makes his blood go cold.

He takes one last good look at the small life he helped create before folding the picture back up, placing it in the front chest pocket of his vest, and jumps out the window, sprinting off towards Hokage Tower.

* * *

When Yamato enters the war council room, it's chaos.

Shinobi lean over one another and shout, lesser men of rank run around frantically with stacks of scrolls and documents. Tsunade is in a heated argument with Choza Akimichi about why Inoichi and Shikaku were allowed to know that the Leaf may go to war and not him.

There's a resounding chorus of this same question, echoing off each other as valued members of Konoha's forces realize that they had been left in the dark. Ibiki Morino looks about to tear Anko's face off if she makes another pointed jab at his chest with her index finger.

Yamato goes to sit next to Shikamaru, pinching the bridge of his nose. To his surprise, Naruto has been invited to sit on the council as well. The jinchuuriki gives a sheepish grin and a wave from in between two special jonin that are arguing over his blonde head.

"You didn't know what was going on, huh?" says Shikamaru darkly, glancing sideways at the captain. Yamato chuckles in response.

"Sorry. It was classified." He smiles at the Nara boy who rolls his eyes. The lazy smirk follows soon after. Yamato nearly opens his mouth to say something else but Tsunade amplifies her voice with chakra and it booms over all of them, making both Shikamaru and the captain cringe in their chairs.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP AND GET TO YOUR SEATS!"

Deadly silence follows. The shinobi who had been on their feet, bickering, sullenly take their places around the tables that are formed in a U shape, the Hokage being seated in the center of the curve. To her left is Shizune but to her right, the seat is empty. Yamato furrows his brow.

"You better wipe that look off your face, Anko, or I'll make sure you don't see a single second of the battlefield," seethes the Hokage. The purple haired kunoichi gives her a glowering stare but resigns, settling back against her seat. Ibiki looks pleased.

"Listen to me, all of you-"

Yamato almost didn't notice. Sakura seats directly beside Shizune.

As if on command, the pink haired woman glances up at him. But he's the first to look away.

"I know that this war may have come as a bit of shock to you but it was imperative to the safety of the village that it be put on a 'need to know' basis."

"So you're implying it was in the interest of Konoha that nearly half our forces be left in the dark about not just an enemy, but an enemy alliance, for what purpose? So they could come knocking on our door and no one would have an inkling of what to do next?"

The Head of the Hyuuga Clan's pale eyes stare into Tsunade's, accusingly. But she doesn't step down.

"Letting every shinobi know of the growing hostility would have been a liability-"

"How is preparation a liability?" Choza growls.

"This isn't an ordinary enemy we are facing," she hisses back.

"All this time we have wasted thinking that the hostility of Jōmae had been ceased after the hostage situation, could've been properly spent creating an attack!" someone calls out from across the room.

"That time was not wasted," snaps Inoichi, defending the Intelligence Division's progress with the one or two captives that Konoha had been able to take from Jōmae.

"No, there is a plan already. Those of us who had clearance to know have been steadily working on it for at least a month now. We are not unprepared. We are exactly where we need to be in terms of how to deal with the Lock. But the recent alliance with Sound and Waterfall has created a bigger complication. It happened too swiftly for us to shut it down in time," the Hokage says calmly, almost slowly as she grips the edge of the table a little too tight. This is spinning out of control way too quickly.

"And what makes you think that the Rock won't attack us as well?" asks Anko, her voice laced with fury. "They have been at our throats for years and now they have the opportunity to march straight across Waterfall country and into ours. Not to mention the fact that we have to worry about Sound across a different border!"

"I am aware of that, Anko! I have been delegating with the Tsuchikage to ensure that if he can't lend a hand, at least he can stay neutral. We have eyes on the Rock."

"And what of the Grass?" says Shibi Aburame quietly. Unlike most of the others in the room, he does not need to shout to be noticed. His voice carries like the slick buzz of an insect. Yamato's skin prickles lightly at the sound. "They would have much to gain to form an alliance with Jōmae."

"But they would also have much to lose against the Leaf and the Sand." Shikaku's face shows signs of impatience, a frown tugging down the corners of his lips. "The Kazekage has agreed, as of yesterday, to lend us troops and increase trade. Grass won't stand a chance." From beside Yamato, Shikamaru nods, supporting his father's conclusion. Others do as well.

But questions still burn their way through the crowd. Once again the War Council descends into chaos. Tsunade only sits back into her chair, eyebrow twitching as she waits for everyone to take all their anger out on each other. It goes on and on and on. Even Naruto has been unable to resist joining the fight, standing up on his feet to point at a lanky jonin two seats down from him. He shouts about respecting Tsunade's decisions and to shut his pessimistic mouth.

Yamato pinches the bridge of his nose again. This isn't going anywhere. One by one, their voices begin to pick away at his reserved expression. His nostrils flare and he clenches his hands into fists against his lap. Shikaku, sometimes the calmest of them all, is now also in a heated argument. His opponent, an old veteran from the Third Great War, sneers something and it makes Shikamaru get between the two men, sneering right back that it would be wise to not insult the intelligence of the Nara clan. Yamato didn't even notice he had left.

It's when an unwelcomed face of a jonin leers into Sakura's when she stands up for the honor of her shishou that Yamato gets officially ticked off. His words come back to the captain, slapping him awake until he's on his feet.

"Children have no place in war, Sakura-_san_."

Light blonde hair and lifeless pale eyes sear across his memory.

"Genma Shiranui and Akira Mori did not die for this!"

His voice carries across the room, booming powerfully into every corner until all eyes are on him. Sakura looks at him sadly but he pretends not to notice.

He punctuates the silence with a glare of his darkened features.

"Konoha is at war and you are all standing here bickering like a bunch of old fools."  
He spits the last word and a few people's feathers get ruffled, about to bite back when one look at Tsunade tells them that their careers will suffer if they even take a too loud breath.

Yamato continues, calming his anger before it gets the best of him. His right hand gives a tremor in response.

"Genma gave his life to report the confirmed hostility of Jōmae when they took us captive, using his chance to escape on my command. To ensure that someone came looking for us. And I know that like me, some of you in here knew him well enough to call him friend. Most of you went to his funeral." He searches their faces and shame crosses the eyes of those who had seemingly forgotten about Yamato's capture.

And of Genma's death.

"Do not sit here in front of me and argue about the uselessness of waiting and secrecy. Akira Mori, barely 16 years old, died at the hands of Jōmae, literally a week after he was pronounced a jonin. The price of the information that I was able to bring home was paid for with that boy's life. So do not come into this room and argue like you have any kind of right to speak over the Hokage. She did what needed to be done." Yamato sits back down in his seat.

"It's time you all do the same."

He stares off into an occupied corner so that he doesn't have to look at anyone. Only briefly does he glance at Lady Tsunade. She nods appreciatively. From two seats beside her, Sakura watches Yamato try to settle the tick in his right hand.

The kunoichi chews on her bottom lip.

"Jōmae's espionage abilities are unparalleled," Tsunade begins. "If anyone else had been captured, knowing what only a handful of people do, it would have put the Leaf in grave danger. I apologize if I offended you but my primary concern is the welfare of this village. Not your personal feelings." A few shift uncomfortably in their seats. "Secrecy was our only option. So can we please begin the official meeting?"

"Umm, Lady Tsunade…" mumbles Shizune. She looks nervously around at all the ninja staring at her. "Kakashi Hatake isn't here yet."

The Hokage's eyebrow twitches in annoyance.

"Well where is he? Late as always, that stupid man," she snaps through her teeth. "Sakura! You released him, didn't you?"

The pink haired ninja jumps at the tense sound of Tsunade's voice. She gives a vigorous nod.

"Yes ma'am! He should've been here by now but his leg might be-"

At that very moment, the door to the War Council room creaks open. A head of silver hair and an apologetic eye crinkling smile leans in. He rubs the back of his neck nervously.

Yamato tries not to stiffen in his seat.

"Sorry I'm late."

Tsunade just gives a 'hmph' before turning back to the council, their eyebrows raised curiously when Kakashi takes his place to her right, still standing. Sakura looks confusedly at the two of them as they talk quietly to each other.

She notices the serious expression in Kakashi's eye and her stomach clenches.

The Hokage nods and sits. The silver haired jonin clears his throat and he turns to look at the soldiers gathered before him

His soldiers.

"As of today, I will be the Commander of the Leaf's Shinobi Forces for the duration of this war."

Once again, a murmur ripples through the crowd.

Yamato watches as Sakura's eyes, even though trained on her fidgeting hands in front of her, go wide with what looks like terror.

"You've got to be kidding me," calls out the old war veteran who had previously been cursing at Shikaku. "Kakashi Hatake is going to lead us all into war? He's not even 30 yet!"

Sakura sees the copy nin set his jaw. But he keeps his stoic appearance as always. His only visible eye crinkles in a smile but only his two pupils in the room can pinpoint the ingenuity behind it.

"Is there a problem, Takeru?"

The older man's thick black eyebrows furrow at the lack of a honorific at the end of his name. His scar, running across diagonally from his right temple to the left side of his jaw, ripples in what looks like anger. Large beefy hands curl into fists ontop of the table.

"My problem, _boy_, is that I'm not so sure that you're capable of such a thing. You couldn't even keep one of your own genin from going rogue, let alone command an entire Armed Force of shinobi."

"Don't you dare talk to him like that!" calls Naruto from across the room, standing up to his feet.

"Sit down, Naruto."

The blonde looks at Yamato with a hint of betrayal in his eyes. But Kakashi nods to him and the boy does as he's told, unwillingly.

Takeru makes a smug noise in the back of his throat.

"Teaching brats has made you soft, hasn't it? One is rogue and the other petulant."

Sakura sees it, the shiver that goes up through Kakashi's spine at the subtle mention of Sasuke. One of Kakashi's deepest failures. If it wouldn't make him look even worse, Sakura would go strangle that old bag of bones right now.

"And don't you forget that I was your battalion leader in the Third Great Shinobi War, Hatake. I know what kind of soldier you are. That eye of yours is proof enough."

There's an appalled whisper at his words. Kakashi's lungs tighten in his chest at the mention of Obito's gift. His right hand curls into a fist. Shikaku glares the man down and speaks out in his low, raspy voice.

"That's enough, Takeru. Lady Tsunade has made her choice. And if I recall correctly, it was Kakashi Hatake who was almost made the Rokudaime Hokage. Not Takeru Yuuta." The Head of the Nara's clan scarred mouth turns up in a dangerous smirk. "You're also forgetting that Kakashi is the student of Minato, who was also not yet 30 when he took the title of Hokage."

There's a collective mumble in the crowd. A few grins.

"And as one of his genin brats, I think it would be wise of Takeru-_san _to listen to what Kakashi sensei has to say," Sakura says in a deceptively sweet voice, giving the war veteran a bright smile. "Because as of right now, _my genin teacher_ outranks you."

There's a collective laugh amongst the shinobi in the room. Tsunade tries not not to smile behind her intertwined hands as Takeru gives the pink haired kunoichi an ugly stare before crossing his arms over his noticeable paunch, staring moodily at the wall behind Yamato's head.

The captain would grin if the sound of her voice didn't strike him so hard. He takes note of the worried expression on her face when her eyes swivel back to Kakashi's hardened expression.

"As I was saying," Kakashi begins, "I am the Commander. And I have been working on a plan with Shikaku, the best strategist in the village as you all know, since Yamato and Raido's return home from their captivity in Jōmae." He looks out at all of them pointedly. "Despite what some of you may think, we are not unprepared." The copy nin glances at Naruto and jerks his head for the boy to come over to him.

The blonde gets up eagerly as Kakashi bites his fingertip and smears it across the tabletop.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

There's a cloud of smoke and the unmistakable sound of the transportation jutsu as Kakashi's ninken settle themselves on top of the table. Lady Tsunade leans back, a dog's tail wagging in her face, and glares up at him. He gives her a sheepish smile before tugging a scroll out of Bull's jaw.

The sensei hands it to his student to hold up for the council to see. Naruto makes a face at the slobber dripping down his knuckles as he does so. Kakashi steps in front of the large map and motions to it with a gloved hand.

"The Anbu's reconnaissance has detected Jōmae rendezvous points between themselves and their allies here, here and here. Our main and primary target is the Lock Village itself. Once it is taken, the alliance will crumble." He hands Naruto a second map from Shiba's mouth who opens it up without a word, displaying travel routes for troops. "These are the ways in and out of the Land of Keys. We could sweep into their land and take them out immediately but as you can all see, the congregation of troops at these three points keeps us from doing so." He looks out at the crowd seriously. "But that also means that they have several vantage points to attack us from."

Aoba raises his hand. Kakashi nods for him to speak.

"Do you really think that they will attack the Leaf?"

People shift in their seats when Kakashi takes a few moments to answer. Tsunade watches him carefully from the corner of her eye as she waits for the commander to chew his answer over.

"It's a possibility. With the strength of three villages behind them, they might."

The attitude in the room becomes palpably tense. It weighs on them all like humidity, heavy and insistent.

"However, if they do decide to take us head on, our intel division has gathered that they will either march all three armies from the three camps together at once or not at all. It isn't a wise plan on their part but we have numbers that they do not to go one-on-one. It seems like their only option if they even stand a chance."

"And the offensive?" asks Yamato smoothly, leaning back in his chair.

Kakashi nearly jolts at the cold look in Tenzou's eye as he waits for his reply. He pushes unrelated thoughts out of his mind, willing himself to not turn and look at Sakura.

The picture hiding in the pocket of his flak jacket feels like it's burning into his skin.

"There is no way we can get to Jōmae without taking out the camps first. They form a barrier between us and reaching the Land of Keys."

Kakashi takes the scrolls from his student and nods for him to go sit down. The commander rolls them up and sets them aside, now taking the document strapped to Pakkun's back. His fingers linger on the dog's head as a comforting gesture as the ninken looks worryingly up at his master.

"I've divided the shinobi force into four divisions after the initial stealth infiltrations into each camp led by Ibiki Morino with the anbu to capture prisoners. There are three battalions, all equipped with a medical team that will set up their station 15 kilometers from the designated battlefields." There's a nod of approval and agreement at that last bit, no doubt Tsunade's hand in his plan. "The fourth will be the division to stay behind and defend the village." Kakashi starts to read off his scroll.

"The first battalion will be led by Shikaku Nara, his second being Inoichi Yamanaka. They will be attacking the camp between the Fire Nation and the southern most border of Waterfall. The second battalion will be led by Might Guy, his second being Hiashi Hyuuga, for the invasion of the rendezvous point between the northeastern border between us and the Sound. The third battalion will be led by attacking the biggest concentration of soldiers between us and Jōmae." He hesitates for only half a moment. "My second will be Yamato."

Sakura goes completely rigid in her seat. Her forehead breaks out in a cold sweat.

Nausea rises up like bile in her throat but she forces it down, staring at a point in the floor, refusing to look at either of them. Yamato simply raises an eyebrow.

"Anko Mitarashi will lead the defense division here at home under the command of Lady Hokage."

Kakashi rolls up the scroll and the mood in the room worsens. This is no longer a surprise, an unanticipated turn of events. This has become more concrete and real than it was an hour ago when the news first officially broke.

Yesterday morning they were at peace. Today, they prepare for war.

An unspoken grief passes through the room as the shinobi remember their own times in battle. Only the younger ones such as Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru sit silently. Dread claws at their insides while their older superiors dwell on things that they cannot know until they take their first steps onto the battlefield themselves.

The Invasion of Pein was different. That was a terrorist attack.

This is a full on clash of ninja that could escalate into a Great Shinobi War in the blink of an eye.

It makes Sakura's hands tremble.

Lady Tsunade nods at Kakashi to continue, handing him a scroll of her own. He clears his throat and reads again.

"The medical team assigned to each battalion will be as follows: The first battalion, Taisuke Odaka. The second battalion, Shizune who will also oversee all medical preparations. And the third battalion-" Kakashi stutters. His one gray eye loses it's nonchalance for only a moment before it reverts back to it's normal stoic expression.

He's sure that the picture in his flak jacket is trying to burn it's way to his heart.

Kakashi recovers by faking a dry cough.

"The third battalion's medical encampment will be left to Sakura Haruno."

He scrolls up the document and with a little too much force, sets it down in front of him. Tsunade watches with a raised eyebrow as he refuses to let it go for a few seconds.

"The rosters for each battalion will be posted outside of Hokage Tower tomorrow morning after we include the additions of Suna's rosters from the Kazakage." He gives a nod to his ninken and they vanish, taking Kakashi's scrolls and documents with them.

The lone copy nin stands before them all and he can't help but panic beneath his hard expression.

He's accountable for so many lives and yet, it's the one that has yet to take it's first breath that worries him sick. Kakashi nearly breaks a sweat beneath their expectant gazes.

"I suggest you all get some sleep tonight. Preparations and battalion trainings begin at sunrise. You're dismissed."

Kakashi turns on his heels and walks out, followed by Lady Hokage and Shizune as the room erupts back into a loud rumble of war talk and worries.

He pays no attention to Tenzou's eyes drilling holes into the back of his silver head.

* * *

The copy ninja lays in bed, one knee propped up as he tries to read Icha Icha. But the scrolls and maps littering his apartment weigh too heavy on his mind, calling for attention that he does not have the energy to give.

He leans back against the headboard and rubs his face tiredly, afraid to close his eyes because of what he will see when he does.

Obito's body half hidden beneath the weight of a boulder as Rin silently cries over him, taking the Sharingan from his skull. All Kakashi can do is watch, his fists clenched and a chill in his bones that he hadn't felt since his father's death.

He hears the chatter of chidori as he watches the life fade from Rin's eyes. Kakashi grows nauseous as he remembers the feel of her heart beating it's last pulse beneath his hand. The mangekyo awakens in his eye like a red alarm flashing 'murderer, murderer'.

Throwing the covers off of him, he gets up and turns on the light at his desk. He pours over the rosters and maps, crossing out names and formations while making corrections with a pen. His silver hair falls in his eyes as he writes swiftly, almost illegibly, a note about an Ino-Shika-Cho formation with both sets of generations before he shakes his head and tosses it out.

Putting children and their parents to fight in close combat together is a mistake, a distraction.

He reaches over to pull up the file on Ino when he knocks it over.

The scroll from Tsunade sits ominously on the surface now, uncovered.

He sinks down into his chair and opens it up, sighing. Lightly, barely leaving any ink marks, he traces Sakura's name with the tip of his pen. He tried not to separate teams as much as he could but some were needed elsewhere.

Yet somehow, with Shikaku's advising, all of Team Kakashi ended up in the same battalion. He had purposely left Sakura off that roster. Nara said nothing about this and it gave the copy nin hope that he could get away with it.

Play it off like he had no use for her.

Even if she's not on the front lines, her presence so close to the battlefield grips him with fear. She wasn't supposed to be on the active duty list. According to the law, she should be required to stay here in Konoha and-

_Knock knock. _

Kakashi sighs and puts down his pen. Maybe if he becomes absolutely still, no one will think he's home. He masks his chakra and hopes for the best.

_Knock knock knock._

Goddammit.

The copy ninja gets up from his desk and pads into the hallway. He turns on the kitchen light before going to his door, slipping his mask back over his face.

It swings open and he's prepared to face Guy who will him to go out and drink with their friends. It's a tradition. Kakashi isn't really in the mood to deal with anyone though.

But to his surprise, jade eyes stare up at him. Angrily.

He leans against the doorway and crosses his arms, dropping his face back into it's stoic expression.

"Haruno," he says with a nod.

"Oh shut up," she growls after a moment, shoving him into his apartment. A pink and red blur passes by him and heads into the apartment. Kakashi shakes his head, shutting the door quietly, and goes after her. When he finds her in the living room, she's standing there, hands on her hips, lips pursed in annoyance and her foot tapping impatiently.

It nearly makes him smile.

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't recall inviting you inside."

"Answer my question."

"I don't know what you're asking me about so how can I answer?"

She throws her hands up and then jabs a finger into his chest. He raises an eyebrow, now growing slightly irritated.

What else does he have to say to her?

How clear does he have to be to get her to stop coming into his life when he has no business being in it? What else does he have to do to make it obvious that she is better off thinking that he wants nothing to do with her?

It makes him clench his jaw.

"Why did you stumble on my name?" No response. "In the war council meeting, Kakashi, why did you hesitate on my name?"

"My eyes were tired."

"God, you're such a liar."

"Yeah, I'm a liar. Now please leave?"

"Why did you stumble on my name?" she asks again, jutting her chin out in determination. Kakashi rubs the back of his neck exasperatedly with a sigh.

"Sakura, really, this is pointless-"

"Answer the question, Kakashi."

"I was about to sneeze."

"Wrong, try again."

"Tsunade's handwriting is shitty."

"Seriously, Kakashi, stop-"

His eyes get that stormy look in them again but Sakura does not flinch, she keeps pushing.

"Answer the goddamn question. Why did you hesitate on my name? Because you think I'm not good enough of a medic to lead the team? Because you still think I'm an innocent, small weakling genin who will only get hurt? Answer me!"

"Because of this, Sakura." Kakashi digs into the pocket of his jonin pants and pulls out the ultrasound picture and holds it up for her to see. "Because of that tiny human being growing inside of you. You have no business being on active duty."

"How dare you! I have a duty to-"

"To that child." His voice drops to the one that he used with her when she was younger. It used to get her to shut up quickly and to follow orders, the stern tone startling her into reconsidering her next words carefully. But lately, it hasn't seemed to work.

Her wrath only increases.

"Do not talk to me about duty to this child when you backed out of it. Don't you dare, Kakashi Hatake."

He stops in his tracks. His one charcoal eye simmers dangerously. The copy ninja clenches his jaw and puts the picture back in his pocket.

"That may be true. But this is just reckless."

"Since when do you care?"

His eyes snap to hers and he gives a cold chuckle. It makes her shiver.

"If you really have to ask that, maybe you aren't as smart as I thought you were, Sakura-chan. You still have alot to learn."

"Don't patronize me," she spits out, brushing the pink hair from her face angrily.

"Maybe you need to be sat down and talked to like a child," he retorts back cooly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Because you obviously don't understand that refusing to report your pregnancy to the Hokage is against the law, for one, and completely and utterly stupid. You're endangering both your lives," he adds matter-of-factly as if he's answering a question about chakra control.

His stoicness makes her grit her teeth. She liked it better when he was angry.

"I have a duty to Konoha. I have a duty to our men and to protect your reputation while you command the entire armed shinobi force of the village!"

His pupil dilates for only a second as he realizes the truth of her statement. He hates to admit it but she's right. No one would follow him after a stunt like this.

No one would even be able to look at him.

But the fear of what looms ahead, especially with Sakura in the mix, makes him not care.

He shoves his hands in his pockets and clutches the photograph in his fist.

Annoying her, his eye crinkles in a smile.

"I appreciate your concern, Sakura. But I would appreciate it even more if you admitted to yourself that you just don't want the village to know that that isn't Yamato's baby. Because if it was-" he says with a lecturing point of his finger like he used to do as a sensei, "I bet the first person you would've told was Lady Tsunade. You would be so proud, wouldn't you? How does he feel about you not telling her? I'm sure he'd agree with me."

Sakura wants to be sick. She wants to smack that fake smile right off of his unfeeling face.

That act used to work on her as a kid. She never failed to believe that Kakashi was always this unresponsive, slightly weird sensei that liked to ruffle her hair from time to time and be late for everything until it drove her mad.

But that was before. She recognizes the tightness around his mouth, even through his mask, letting her know that he's forcing it.

That does nothing to make her feel better.

"I left Yamato two weeks ago. He doesn't know."

Kakashi's smile falters. This wasn't part of the plan.

"But you would know that if you had decided to stop being such a coward and raise your child like a man, wouldn't you, Kakashi-sensei?" She takes a step toward him and tilts her face up to look at him, nearly chest to chest now. He stares blankly down at her but his hands tremble at the urge to reach out.

Her jade eyes try to be angry. They try to be menacing and strong despite the fact that she just admitted to him that she was indeed going to have this child alone. But they quiver beneath his uncaring expression.

"You forfeited all rights to what I can and cannot do concerning this baby. I am going to war, Commander. I will save lives and make it out in one piece so that I can see the face of my son or daughter." She reaches up to caress his cheek the way she used to. A smile turns up the corners of her lips but it is not welcoming like he has always known it to be.

It's the smile she used on Takeru in the War Room. Deceptively sweet, twinged with a temper and viciousness to rival that of Lady Tsunade.

Her hand burns where she touches him.

"I know you won't tell on me because you've already given your child up, Kakashi. What else do you have left besides this war?"

Her lips drop back into a hard line and she turns on her heels.

The copy ninja waits until the front door slams shut before his knees give out and he sits on the edge of the couch. His hands tremble against his face and he rubs it tiredly.

She left him. Sakura didn't ask Yamato for forgiveness like he thought she would.

Now she really is going to raise that baby alone.

And she really is going to war.

After a few moments of silence, he gets up and goes to pull the rest of his uniform back on.

Maybe he will go have that drink.

* * *

"Kiba," says Hinata hesitantly as he pulls her by the sleeve of her jacket up to the entrance to a pub. "This is a _jonin _bar. We can't go in there!"

He flashes his sharp canines at her in a grin. "Says who?"

"They aren't going to like it!" she squeaks back, the rest of the Konoha 11 plus Sai in tow behind her.

"Hinata-chan, we have Neji with us, remember? He's a jonin." The jinchuuriki wiggles his eyebrows at her, making the pale eyed girl blush. "They won't mind as long as we're with him! Right, Neji?"

The Hyuuga male crosses his arms over his chest and gives a 'hmph'. Even he isn't comfortable with this idea.

"Seriously, Kiba, let's just go back to the Moon Fish. This place is rough," Choji adds in an apprehensive voice as he stares up at the sign. The Fire Shadow gleams in red, orange and black neon lights, staring down at them ominously.

"What're you, scared?" sneers Shikamaru with an elbow in his best friend's ribs.

"Yeah, come onnn!" Naruto calls to them. "We're all war soldiers now. Stop being a bunch of babies."

In one of the only times, except on the battlefield, that Naruto and Kiba have combined forces is now. The two of them stroll into the Fire Shadow, heads high, and grins on their faces. Sakura and Ino look at each other and sigh, falling into step behind them.

Soon enough, all of the Konoha 11, now 12 with Sai, walk into the bar and find the largest table in the right hand corner. Older shinobi turn to look at them, sizing them up for only a second before going back to their own conversations. Kiba wasn't kidding when he said this was a rough crowd. Some of the highest level ninja of Konoha sit at the bar or in smaller groups, drinks in hand.

But surprisingly, Naruto was right. The air is thick and heavy with the looming of war. Normally, someone would have told them to get lost by now. They simply give them a look over, some even nod, and they go on, leaving their clique to their own devices.

It's inspiring and sad all at the same time. Unity in the face of death.

A waitress comes by and takes their drink orders. Already, Kiba and Naruto argue about what the best kind of sake is when the Inuzuka accuses Naruto about getting a cheap brand and knowing nothing about alcohol.

Lee's about to place his order when Neji puts his hand out, stopping him.

"He'll have a shochu," the Hyuuga says smoothly after ordering himself a beer.

"But Nejiiii," Lee whines, his eyes glancing over to Sakura as he turns a shade of crimson, "That's a girly drink."

"I don't care," he retorts, pale eyes staring coldly at his teammate. "I'm not carrying you home again." Tenten snorts from beside him.

Shikamaru yawns, putting his arm around Ino as he does so. The waitress waits, a little impatiently, for Sakura to answer her. The chunin follows her gaze andtakes a look over his shoulder to the booth across the bar from them, all their senseis and their friends occupying the large corner booth. He kicks Sakura lightly in the ankle beneath the table.

"Cherry, what're you drinking?"

She quits staring at Kakashi and his silver hair after he knocks back a bowl of sake through his mask. Startled at his touch, she jumps and the Nara boy raises an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, sorry! I'm not drinking tonight." She gives a sheepish grin. Everyone stops their talk at the table and glances at her. Alot of eyebrows raise at her answer.

Shit.

"What do you mean you aren't drinking tonight?" whines Ino. She usually doesn't like getting drunk if Sakura doesn't.

"Well, Lady Tsunade has me trying out a new soldier pill she's been working on and it will have some bad side effects if I mix it with alcohol." She tries to give a nonchalant wave of her hand. "You go ahead and order, Ino."

The blonde, and Shikamaru, eye her suspiciously but go ahead and request their drinks. Everyone resumes their talking, seeming to forget that Sakura, for once, is not drinking with them. Naruto and Kiba start arm wrestling on the tabletop while Choji chows down on the free snacks.

Yet they aren't as loud as they usually are once the drinks start flowing. Sure, they chatter and muse over who they think will be in their battalion. But the talk mostly steers to the war. It makes the alcohol in their hands feel even heavier than usual.

Sakura goes rigid in her seat when she realizes that according to shinobi statistics, 2 in 10 ninja die in warfare. She looks around at the faces of her friends sitting around her and her chest tightens with dread. Who will it be?

Her eyes fall on each of their faces but Sakura can only bite her lip, not willing herself to guess. She doesn't know how she would be able to get through it if any of them did die on the battlefield. Her eyes flicker to Sai and Naruto towards the opposite end of the table and her heart sinks.

No, those are terrible thoughts to have.

Sakura wishes she could have a drink.

"I think we should make a toast!" slurs Lee as he stands to his feet. Neji puts a hand to his face, annoyed. "Oh come on, Neji, it's our last night before we prepare for war! A toast to our health and our youth should not be discouraged!"

"Unless of course, by toasting to our health and as you like to put it, 'our brilliantly burning lives', you jinx us and we all die," Sai says with one of his creepy, concentrated smiles.

There's a chorus of 'Shut up, Sai' amongst all of them. They lean back into their seats now, a little sullen. Sakura watches them begin to flicker their eyes to each other the way she did only moments ago.

It's inevitable now.

"I still think Bushy Brow is right. We're not just anybody anymore," he says, staring into his bowl of sake in his fingers, "We're soldiers now. And we should make a promise to each other."

Everyone shifts uncomfortably in their seats. Sakura can see from the corner of her eye Shikamaru's arm tightening around Ino's shoulders.

Will they say goodbye? Or will they just simply count on coming home to see each other again?

Shinobi don't make promises when it comes to warfare because anything can happen.

Anyone can die.

Naruto raises his bowl up. And despite their slight reluctance, every single one of them follows. Even Sakura who lifts her glass of water.

"No matter what happens, we will always be friends," he says, climbing to his feet. Lee;s eyes water as Naruto helps him in making the toast. "And even though times may get tough and we may get separated, that we, the Konoha 12," he smiles at Sai, "will try our best to come back to each other. And just like someone said on his birthday not too long ago," his eyes find Shikamaru who smirks back, "We honor our fallen. But most of all, we honor each other."

Naruto looks at Sakura now.

"Not even death will keep us apart." He raises his glass higher. "To Konoha. To us."

And there he goes again. Inspiring even the worst of them into smiling, repeating his final words and putting their drinks to their lips.

Leave it to Naruto to make the burn of alcohol feel like the burn of the Will of Fire.

* * *

"I can't even look at them," Kurenai says, tearing her crimson eyes away from their students who clutter around a table across the bar, laughing and drinking. "They still look like children to me."

"I'm glad I wasn't picked to become a genin teacher," says Aoba from beside Kurenai, turning back around to face his fellow jonin. He knocks back a bowl of sake, giving a hiss as it singes his throat on the way down. "I don't think I could handle sending my kids off to battle."

"Stop coddling them, all of you." Raido glowers into his drink. "They're shinobi. They know the risks."

"You wouldn't understand, Raido," says Iruka softly, an arm tossed over the back of the booth as he sits next to Kotetsu, both of them unable to stop looking at their juniors because they happened to sit facing them. The two best friends and Iruka also on this night get to cross the lines between chunin and jonin and join them at their claimed booth in the back.

"You watch them grow up," he continues, his eyes especially trained on Naruto, "protecting them and guiding them as best you can. But then you send them to be slaughtered," he broods which is uncharacteristic of him but since he's drunk, since most of them are, they don't hold back.

"I was 6 when I went to war," Kakashi says, a little coldly, tearing his away from Sakura sipping out of her water. "We should just be thankful that they are ninja of substance now in the face of their first battlefield and not children."

"Kakashi, are you sending genin out...to the front lines?" Izumo asks quietly, twirling his beer nervously in his hands.

The copy ninja knocks back a bowl into his mouth and swallows. He shakes his head.

"I'm trying as hard as I can not to. But if our numbers get depleted in the first wave...we won't have a choice. And I can't send just chunin and jonin. Some of them have to stay behind and defend the village."

Once again, his eyes slip over to the table where his two pupils sit with their friends. Sakura laughs at something Shikamaru says, her jade eyes lighting up in a way that they used to when he made her laugh like that.

Kakashi irritatedly pours himself another round as he reminds himself that she's playing dirty and going to war despite his warnings. He drinks it down quickly.

"Let's stop with the sullen faces and take a leaf out of our beloved pupil's book and make a toast to our health and to our eternal friendships!" Guy jumps to his feet and gives a sparkling smile, raising his bowl of sake. "We might not live to see the petals of our youth begin to wither but the flame of our spirits will never go out, we will-"

"Shut up, Guy," they all whine in unison, knocking back the drink they would've saved for the toast. The Beast of Konoha sinks back down into his seat on the outside of the booth, frowning that they rained on his parade.

Silence falls over them and they keep watching the Konoha 12, being rowdy and loud as always. Kakashi grips the ultrasound picture in his pocket both out of panic and comfort.

"We should toast to Genma," Raido suddenly says. Their eyes snap to their friend and his now even more scarred face as he looks up sadly from his drink. "He gave his life and we're still sitting here, drinking without him." The jonin starts pouring everyone a round of genshu, the strong thick liquid that can make a grown man's eyes water. "We should honor his memory." Raido tries to smile. "He's probably angry that he won't get a piece of the action."

Unlike Guy's frilly speech, no one questions this suggestion. They wait until the drinks are poured before lifting them up into the air. No one has the courage to say it though.

His death is still fresh in their hearts.

"To Genma," Guy finally says sadly. "May the afterlife be filled with all the senbons that he could ever want." The ghost of his former teammate's memory haunts his eyes. Kakashi would grip his shoulder from across the table if he could reach.

They sip down their drinks slowly.

"Hey," Kotetsu says after a few moments of silence, nudging Izumo in the ribs with a smirk. "Look who finally showed up."

Yamato enters the Fire Shadow bar, ducking beneath the banners dangling from the door. Guy waves him over and the captain gives a small smile.

That is, until he sees Kakashi.

"Yo, taichou!" Naruto calls out, a little drunkenly. Yamato only gives him a nod before weaving in and out of tables to get to his friends in the back.

Sakura watches him as he goes to join his peers.

As per tradition, Kakashi slides out of his end seat in the large booth to let Yamato slip in between him and Kurenai. He gives an eye crinkling smile when his teammate approaches.

"Hey Yama-"

Kakashi gets layed out as Tenzou's fist connects with the copy ninja's jaw.

He never even saw it coming.

His silver head snaps back onto the hardwood floor and he winces. Guy immediately puts himself between Yamato and Kakashi who is too startled to get back up. He stares up at Yamato's almond eyes and can't bring himself to move. The entire bar goes silent.

From somewhere across the room, he hears a chair scrape back against the floor. He knows it's Sakura, debating if she should go over there or not.

But his primary concern is a seething Yamato, his hands clenched into fists as everyone ceases conversation and watches as he stands over his superior after right hooking him in the face. He tries to take calming breaths, opening his mouth every once in awhile to say something as Kakashi slowly rises to his feet. He rubs his face where Tenzou's fist slammed into it and everyone flinches at the copy ninja pops his own jaw back into place.

"It's alright, Guy," Kakashi says slowly, putting his arm out to stop the man from taking a step towards Yamato. Kurenai raises her eyebrow at them.

"What's the problem here, Yamato?" she asks sharply.

Kakashi and Tenzou face off, the air shifting around them until it makes the entire bar uncomfortable.

He can see it in the man's face. Kakashi can see the accusation in Yamato's eyes as he clenches and unclenches his fists. The silver haired man begins to slide his one charcoal orb to glance at Sakura.

"Don't," growls Tenzou. "This is about you and me, _brother._"

Internally, Kakashi flinches at the use of the word. And he panics at the fact that as of now, the copy nin knows that Tenzou knows.

His betrayal has been found out.

However, externally, Kakashi gives an eye crinkling smile.

"Surely this can be settled somewhere privately, don't you think?"

"Why? Because you don't want our friends to know that-"

Yamato stops himself, his rationality returning to him as he sees Raido's face. Something in it, something in the way that he's looking at him after Tenzou sees him in his dreams every night, makes him stop.

This is no longer just Kakashi standing in front of him.

This is the Commander of the Armed Shinobi Force of Konoha.

"Let's take this outside, hmm?" Yamato suggest, his face reverting back to it's usual calm expression. He gives a smile but it's tight, not reaching his almond eyes.

Naruto stands but Sakura glares at him not to interfere.

"What do you say, senpai? For old time's sake."

Kakashi lets his eyes slide to Sakura's now. She stands on her toes, ready to take flight if one of them attacks the other. Her jade gaze swerves back and forth between the two men.

And it pisses him off.

"Alright," Kakashi says almost cheerfully, still smiling. He doesn't completely mask the sharp edge in his tone. "We'll do this the old fashion way, huh? No weapons, no jutsu. Just fist to fist. What do you say, Tenzou?"

The captain narrows his eyes viciously at the use of his real name. He recovers quickly and Yamato chuckles darkly, gesturing with his arm. "After you."

"Stop, you guys are friends," hisses Kurenai. "This is inappropriate right now."

"No, Kurenai," responds Kakashi as he steps in front of Yamato, the two men ducking beneath the banners dangling from the doorway of the Fire Shadow. "This is perfect timing."

Sakura is the first to run out and follow them.

The two men walk out into the chilled night air, heading towards the nearest training ground, the moon elongating their shadows behind them.

"She went home early, huh?" the captain says after a while, shaking his head with a bitter chuckle. "Should've know it was you, senpai. It's always you, isn't it?"

Kakashi gives another one of his mocking smiles.

"Jealousy isn't very flattering on you, Tenzou."

Both Yamato and Kakashi take off their gloves slowly and stow them away into their weapons pouches.


	15. Chapter 15

The copy ninja gives a knowing smile, a mocking one. Of course Tenzou would pick this place.

There really wasn't a choice to begin with.

"Feeling a little nostalgic, are we?" Kakashi says lightly as they cross over the curb and into the boundaries of Training Ground Ten. They keep walking, shoulder to shoulder, no longer seeing eye to eye as they once did. Brother to brother, captain to sensei. With every step they leave another layer of their friendship behind until Yamato feels like a stranger in the presence of the man who taught him to be brave.

It unnerves them both.

They head out into the open field, ignoring the sound of sandaled feet trailing a few meters behind them. Mostly out of curiosity, they followed Kakashi and Yamato out into the open night air, the smack of knuckles on flesh still fresh in their minds. It had happened so fast that no one even knew that there was a scuffle until Kakashi's back hit the floor, all 6 feet of him, laid out flat.

He had met the ground before he even realized he was falling.

Kakashi doesn't try to convince himself that he didn't deserve it. He knew that Yamato would find out eventually, it was just a matter of time and how. It's the fact that Tenzou, once a brat in his uncaring eye, resorted to violence in complete disregard of the fact that Kakashi doesn't like putting his personal business out for the public to see. It angered him that the one man who was a king of subtlety in his own right would do something as rash as sucker punch him in the middle of the Fire Shadow.

He set out their issues, their vices and their hearts on a table to be examined by their peers and their friends. Rage got the best of Yamato and it's stranded them as a spectacle, a source of entertainment when this is one of their deepest aches.

Kakashi doesn't appreciate it one bit.

They trek on into the open space of the grounds. The silver haired jonin tries not to smirk at the sense of poetic justice that his junior is trying to fulfill as they split off into opposite directions.

This is where Yamato first met Kakashi's pupils. He had grown to care for them on this field, trained them and molded them in Kakashi's absence. Sai took his rightful place among them here, in this very spot. Naruto perfected the Rasengan in this dirt. They have all sweat and bled into this land, forming a team in the absence of one and in the gain of two that works so much more seamlessly than others.

And yet, Training Ground Ten is where the roots of betrayal had been set to grow. Here, both jonin found themselves unable to stop watching Sakura for the first time as she danced and flitted about the field, a lethal yet graceful kunoichi in all her pink and jade glory. He must've thought he was the only one who looked at her when her cream skin glistened in midday with a sheen of sweat, her eyes a vibrant, enduring reminder that there is good in such a desolate existence.

How foolish of Yamato to believe that there was only him.

But even as Kakashi seethes, his ego slightly blistered at Tenzou's successful tactic to catch him off guard, the copy ninja can't help but look at his junior and feel the familiar twinge of regret surfacing in his stomach. He sees the Anbu soldier with the long hair standing before him instead of the full fledged jonin that he is right now. Kakashi blinks the boy away, refusing to think about how Tenzou's eyes had once never left the masked face of his senior with nothing short of admiration and respect.

They glare at him now with contempt.

"No weapons," the taichou calls out to Kakashi from a few feet away. Both men discard their weapons pouches and kunai holders in response.

Off to the side, the Konoha 12 and the jonin mill around by the curb, watching. Choji offers Shikamaru his bag of potato chips as if a show is about to start. The gesture makes Sakura grit her teeth.

"I got 30 ryo on Kakashi," Aoba mutters to Kiba. He smirks in agreement, canines showing.

Kurenai's voice echoes in Sakura's memory, haunting her as they continue to place bets amongst themselves. One bet on Kakashi knocking him out in the first five minutes. Double the pot on Yamato's victory.

_This is a wager you shouldn't be betting._

Naruto comes up beside her and so does Sai, flanking their sullen teammate.

"I don't understand," the blonde wonders out loud. "Why did Taichou hit Kakashi-sensei?" His light brows pull into each other as they do when he's confused.

"He could quite possibly owe the captain some money," Sai muses seriously. He dissects their body language, the expressions on their faces, and the way that silence permeates the air between his two captains. In training, before a spar between two partners, there is nothing less than banter and heated discussions.

The lack of words between two members of their team as they square off feels wrong. He also doesn't understand and it irks him.

"Kakashi-sensei owes us all money," Naruto mutters. "Captain Yamato wouldn't just hit him for something like that."

Sai's face screws up further into a concentrated expression.

"I cannot comprehend why the taichou would so willingly and publicly challenge Kakashi-sensei even though we have training tomorrow. He could've simply waited if he wanted to spar so badly." Sai begins to speak out loud to himself rather than to anyone in particular, racking his brain for all the social skills he's learned from books to label the intense way that his two captains stare down one another.

Sakura watches their shoulders rise and fall with the slow intakes of their breath. Right now, Kakashi will be clenching and unclenching his jaw, the only overt sign he ever gives when his patience is beginning to run out. And on command, just as she speculated, Yamato's bad right hand tremors with the ghost of an old injury, a tick to a sudden fluctuation in his usual soothing behavior.

"Sakura," the jinchuuriki pleads. Her green eyes swivel to Naruto's concerned azure ones. "Why are they going to fight each other?" His voice nearly rises to a panic and Sakura wants so desperately for Naruto to understand, to side with her and tell her that she did play a hand in this.

But she lost those privileges a long time ago. Yamato knows now and she receives the blunt end of his accusing stares, just as Kakashi does from the opposite end of the field.

He sees her for what she is. And it makes Sakura feel naked.

"I don't know, Naruto," she lies. "I really don't know."

A little distanced from the rest of the crowd, Kurenai crosses her pale arms over her chest, casting furtive glances between Team Kakashi idling nervously to her right. Her crimson gaze hardens as she sees a shock of pink hair from amongst the crowd, the girl's eyes intently watching each man who has yet to move.

"Do something, Guy," the kunoichi hisses. "We can't let those two fight it out right in front of them. This is the Commander of the Armed Shinobi Force of the Leaf squaring off with his own lieutenant. Word will travel fast."

The Beast of Konoha gives a small shake of his head, bowl cut hair sifting lightly over his large dark eyes. The tightness in Guy's prominent cheek bones betray his worry.

"It is bad timing and poor judgement on both their parts but alas, we cannot interfere." His gaze now lingers on Sakura too. "A battle of youthful passion such as this can only be settled with fists now, Kurenai." He puts a hand on his green spandex hip and worriedly watches the hardened face of his rival. "This is a man's fight."

When Yamato refuses to make the first move, Kakashi gives another eye crinkling smile.

"Nervous? I would be too."

The simple, almost undetectable threat jarrs Tenzou.

"That was a good punch you threw back there," the older man taunts casually. "Whoever taught you that right hook must be proud. Street fighting isn't really a style that the elite in Root like to practice, is it?"

Tenzou lets this comment slip past him, unwilling to recognize that Kakashi is making a reference to himself and his superiority. It's all part of the copy nin's end game, the one that Yamato has grown familiar with over the years.

Make everyone believe that the man on the surface is the man beneath the mask.

Make them believe he doesn't care.

But Tenzou isn't buying it. He can see the cold stare in Kakashi's eye, the tenseness of his shoulders as he waits for the first move to be taken, his chakra unsettled beneath his skin.

Yamato straightens his faceguard, a hush following over the bystanders as he rolls back his shoulders. Now or never.

Brother against brother.

He sprints to Kakashi.

The captain's leg goes to sweep the jonin's weight out from under him. The copy nin jumps up to avoid it, placing his hands on Yamato's back to give him the momentum to send his own legs into a scissor kick at Tenzou's face. One sturdy hand catches his ankle and pulls Kakashi towards himself, a fist aimed at his ribs. The other leg comes around and knocks the arm aside. The two of them skid apart, clawing at the ground to stop their speed. But before another breath can be taken, they're off again, moving so fast they're nearly a blur of motion.

Skin smashes against skin, limbs swinging and bodies dodging back like they've been burned. Nobody has landed a hit yet. Kakashi and Yamato dance on the field, their eyes lit like the end of a match that nobody else can see in the storm of their taitjutsu.

Training is one thing. But this is another. Both men strike with the intention to hurt.

Sakura wrings her hands together, her jade eyes flickering across the grounds to try and catch each of their movements. Both jonin are too quick, unable to get in a decent attack because it's blocked before it can even come close.

She knew Yamato was fast. But she didn't know that he was as quick as Kakashi.

Hardly anybody is.

Yamato ducks a swipe at his jugular. His palms flatten to the ground and he spins, twisting his feet in the air to make contact with Kakashi's jaw. He dodges the first strike and then catches Yamato's other foot, throwing it aside as he brings his knee up into Tenzou's chest once he's thrown off balance. The captain slaps it away with the back of his forearm in midair before flipping backwards onto the balls of his feet.

No reprieve again. Kakashi charges first, faking a left punch. When Yamato dodges it, distracted by the foot trying to take out his kneecap as well, Kakashi does a 180 and brings the back of his opposite fist slamming into Yamato's cheek.

Sakura lets out a small yelp as the captain skids across the ground. He doesn't stay down for long. With the momentum of his roll, he spins onto all fours and goes right back into the fray.

"You're slow, Tenzou," the silver haired jonin grunts as he bends backwards to avoid the foot coming at his face.

He's getting angry. His almond eyes glare in fury as he continues to be unable to catch Kakashi who evades his limbs by barely a millisecond. Yamato lets out an aggravated shout and runs at him. He spins on the balls of his feet and brings around his fists in a mock move of what Kakashi hit him with earlier. The copy ninja easily counters this and jumps back to avoid his knuckles.

Yamato juts his foot out and uses Kakashi's knee as a springboard at the end of his spin when he's distracted by Tenzou's hands. Kakashi's recently injured leg almost buckles beneath the weight, not able to react in time to the foot coming right at his face again.

He barely has enough leeway to keep it from fully assaulting his nose, the heel of Yamato's sandal only able to dig into his already bruised jaw when Kakashi swerves to the side. The impact sends the copy ninja's head whipping to the right.

"And you're getting old, senpai."

Kakashi grits his teeth and the fight intensifies. He ducks a vicious jab and swings his leg around to catch Yamato's knees who simply jumps up to avoid it. Neji has to activate the byakugan in order to be able to follow their movements across the field. Every step Yamato makes, Kakashi is one move ahead and vice versa.

The fight seems like it will drag on. Kakashi hits the ground in a hard roll, getting up to his feet quickly. He does a backflip to avoid Tenzou's fist whistling by his ear, using Yamato's flat abdomen as the hard surface to launch off of. It takes the wind out of the wood user and Kakashi swings his foot upward for Yamato to dodge while in mid-air. But when he does, the copy nin's other heel simply connects with his chin on the way out of said flip.

"Yamato!" calls out Sakura when he gets sent a several feet away, hitting the dirt at a velocity that sends him skidding. She takes a step forward to run to him but Sai puts a hand on her shoulder.

"You'll only get in their way."

The words ring truer than he knows.

Kakashi flashes over to Yamato in a blur as he gets up. The man's knee connects with Tenzou's nose before he can counter. Kurenai winces as she hears the bone break at impact.

"You're getting sloppy, Tenzou. Too much brooding, not enough training."

But the captain doesn't even flinch. When the silver haired jonin sends a fist to his left eye, Yamato swerves out of the way. He grips onto Kakashi's wrist whose one visible orb widens, thinking he was too quick to get caught. Tenzou takes his chance and thrusts the heel of his foot into the copy ninja's bad knee. It goes out and Kakashi crumples.

This is Taijutsu 101. Yamato made a mistake. He leaves his right side completely open as he reaches across his body to keep Kakashi's opposite wrist in his hand. The advantage has been handed off to the sensei as he goes to one knee. He's literally staring straight at Yamato's single opening.

And Sakura sees it immediately.

"Stop! Both of you!"

But Kakashi loses his finesse. They both lose the urge to fight like ninja.

Now they just fight like men.

The copy ninja tackles that opening, sending them both flying to the ground with a grunt. They grapple with each other to gain the upper hand, twisting limbs and choke holds that don't seem to work. Yamato grabs Kakashi by the front of his flak jacket and is about to bring his forehead crashing down onto Kakashi's but the copy ninja takes his chance and pops him in the mouth.

Yamato falls over to the side once again and Kakashi is about to flip onto him in order to immobilize Tenzou. But the taichou swings his leg up and catches Kakashi in the neck. They pant and pull at each other, one of them trying to find the grounds to get the other to surrender.

Because this is no longer about what Kakashi did behind Yamato's back.

The quick, uncalled for jab in the Fire Shadow is long forgotten. His betrayal, his secrecy, the unwillingness to come forward like a man means nothing to either of them now. Friend to friend, brother to brother, those are no longer the conditions on which they struggle.

This is about her. It has always been about her.

The two men start to act like it, forgetting that others are watching. They wave off the fact that they're all suddenly yelling for them to stop as the fight turns nothing but ugly, fists, elbows and the heels of feet nothing but a firestorm.

Yamato grabs onto Kakashi's silver head, brings it up, and then slams it back into the ground. The jonin sees stars explode behind his eyes the color of Sakura's hair. In response, Kakashi thrusts the heel of his palm up into Tenzou's already broken nose as a counter and he gives a cry, pain impulses shooting up into the younger man's brain.

Kakashi curls his knees under his chest from beneath Yamato and shoots him off with the soles of his sandals, kicking in a rib as he does so.

Tenzou struggles to his feet but Kakashi tackles him back down.

And just like that, it's over.

The copy ninja, breathing hard, his one charcoal eye ablaze, sits on Yamato's hips, his fist poised to take the hit that will, by ninja standards, claim him the winner.

It will name him the man good enough to keep her.

Or so he thinks.

He looks down at Yamato's almond eyes and he can't do it. His clenched fist hovers by his ear as he grabs Tenzou by the front of his flak jacket, gathering it up in his palm to peel him off the ground. Blood streaks down the man's face from his crooked nose.

He stares up, unblinking, at Kakashi.

"Go on, senpai," growls Tenzou. His free hand reaches for the collar of Kakashi's navy blue fatigue, gripping it tightly. "Hit me."

The silver haired jonin still doesn't move. His breathing slows and the haze of a hot blooded fight finally begins to fade from his one gray eye. Yamato pulls Kakashi down closer to him, all the kindness and the warm rumble of his voice gone, replaced by a desperation that has never been seen in Tenzou before.

Kakashi suddenly wishes he could take back this fight.

"Hit me, you coward!"

He still doesn't and instead looks over his shoulder, tearing his sight away from Yamato and finds her in the crowd.

Her jade eyes watch them, quivering beneath his stare. Naruto has an arm wrapped around her shoulder and even from here, he can see the horror that him and Yamato have just etched into their memories. Sensei on captain, brother upon brother.

What they must look like to the two teammates who have already seen this once before.

The tremble of Naruto's bottom lip, the way he refuses to look Kakashi in the face, makes his insides grow cold. Sakura's mouth moves and even though he can't hear her, he can read her pale pink lips as easily as he can breathe.

_Please don't. _

Kakashi drops his hand. He hangs his head over Yamato's, pulling him by the front of his shirt until they're nearly nose to nose. The copy nin tries to tell him without words that this fight is over. He searches his sun tanned face and opens his mouth to try and say what his voice cannot.

This is wrong. _This _is the betrayal, not the the affair.

"You're right, I am coward. But this isn't right."

Tenzou won't stand for such weakness.

He sees red and flips Kakashi over with a knee to the stomach. Sakura screams out for him to stop but Tenzou brings his fist down onto his senior's face as he climbs on top of him.

Then another hit. One more. Two. Three.

Sakura begins to lose count.

"Why won't you hit me back?!" he bellows.

Shikamaru shakes his head and takes Ino's hand, the silence hanging heavy on them all as Sakura flinches into Naruto's chest. Bets forgotten, curiosity long gone, they stare out at Yamato trying to beat the need to apologize right out of Kakashi.

She buries her face in his shoulder, no longer able to watch. Silent sobs assault her and Lee looks like he's about to say something to her but his teammate gives a feather light touch to his arm.

Neji's eyes tell him to leave it alone. This is a team problem. A malfunction within the unit that only they can solve.

What began as a spectator's match, a feud for dignity, turned into a private matter that no one but Team Kakashi should have the right to see. There is something much deeper ripping through the two jonin as one tries to pound the other back into the dirt. A few make a move to stop him but Guy holds his arm out, shaking his head.

_This is a man's fight._

The Konoha 12 slowly scatter, feeling like invaders in something too personal to watch any longer. Guy and Kurenai corral them away from the scene that has finally spiraled down to nothing but it's cinders, Tenzou still shuddering life into the last of the coals.

He gives a grunt with every passing slam of his fist, trembling above Kakashi who still looks up at him calmly. The jonin's headband clatters to the ground nearby, forced off by the impact of Yamato's hands.

Within moments, they're all gone, leaving Sai, Naruto and Sakura to flinch at the continuous sound of Yamato's knuckles crashing against Kakashi's face who does nothing to stop it.

He only stares up sadly into Tenzou's distraught features, gazing up at what he has created out of his own cowardice.

Kakashi was never the better man.

"Naruto," says Sai quietly, an unusual strain in his voice. The blonde nods gravely and both boys rush over to their leaders. Pale arms curl around Yamato and haul him off of Kakashi. Tenzou goes willingly, staring down in a daze at the bloodied mess he created out of the copy nin's face.

The captain looks at his split open knuckles and then back over to Naruto who helps his sensei sit up. Silver hair, matted to the right hand side of his face with sweat and blood, falls over his uncovered sharingan. His other eye is swollen shut, black and blue along the edges while there's no doubt that Kakashi's lip is busted beneath his mask.

A split in his cheek opens up, blood spilling over his jaw. Tenzou stares at his hands.

"Yamato," says Sakura with a crack in her voice. The taichou whips his head around to look at her after jerking himself away from Sai's constricting arms, disgust curling up into his palms until they shake.

Rage is foreign. Animosity is a cold lover, he realizes.

Her jade eyes can't look at him directly but she still reaches out to touch him.

"Your nose." Sakura holds her fingers over his face to heal him, summoning the familiar green chakra to the tips. Butafter another lingering look at Kakashi struggling to his feet, arm slung around Naruto's shoulder, Yamato backs away from her.

Reality comes crushing down on him as the adrenaline begins to ebb away. His opened knuckles sting in the night air and it's like he can breathe clearly again without the weight of what felt like the kyuubi sitting painfully on his chest.

He turns away from her, afraid to look into her eyes so that she can see maybe he isn't the better man after all either. Sakura calls out to him again but Yamato is gone in a blink. She watches his dark outline flee to the rooftops, dipping into the shadows of the village while her hand remains outstretched to where his nose should be.

"We should get him home," Naruto says quietly, Kakashi sensei leaning on his student's shoulder. His ungloved hand grips his forehead protector tightly, not willing to let it go.

_What else do you have left besides this war, Kakashi?_

Sakura can't look at his face but she nods.

The three of them walk in silence back to the village, trying not to dwell on the shambles that Team Kakashi has just become.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that," their silver haired sensei says sadly as his limp from yesterday returns. He tries to look over his shoulder at Sakura who follows behind them. Her eyes take a sudden interest on the ground and a hand flutters to her stomach.

Kakashi fumbles in his pocket to make sure the picture is still there. He smears blood across the grey and black edges but almost sighs when he finds it safe against his palm.

It hurts to move.

"Shut up, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto says with a tight smile, trying to make the foreign feeling between all them flee but to no avail. "Let's go fix your face."

Sai ducks underneath Kakashi's other arm and the two of them match their pace with the copy nin who can't seem to stop dragging his feet as blood begins to stain his silver hair a dull shade of pink.

* * *

Naruto paces viciously in the living room of his sensei. A blur of red and cherry blossom suddenly emerges back to where he is and he turns swiftly to face her. Sakura wishes, with a painful stab in her gut, that he would leave.

"What the hell is going on, Sakura? Why did Yamato and Kakashi-sensei fight like that! They looked like they wanted to kill each other!" Naruto demands as Sakura comes out of Kakashi's bedroom, closing the double doors behind her softly.

She looks so exhausted that the jinchuuriki thinks she might fall over as she swerves past him. But he doesn't let up on her as she crosses the room to sink down into the couch. The blonde resumes his pacing in front of the coffee table, hands clenched into fists.

"You know something, I know you do," he growls when she doesn't answer him.

"Naruto, please, keep your voice down. Sensei is resting."

Sakura rubs her temples with the tips of her fingers while Sai curls up in Kakashi's arm chair, a sketchbook in hand. His pencil cuts Yamato's jaw into a hard line as he leans over Kakashi on the paper, fist pulled back to strike.

"Are you even listening to me?!" her best friend demands. His oceanic eyes storm like the waves of a hurricane, forcing her to meet his gaze.

"Yes, I'm listening," she sighs.

"Then why won't you answer my questions?"

"Because I don't know, Naruto!" she snaps back. The kunoichi hates herself for lying but things will only worsen if she tells him the truth. Sakura watches her hands fidget in her lap and her voice softens. "Obviously it's something private between the captain and Kakashi-sensei, I don't know what else you want me to say."

Sai shades in the scar crossing over Kakashi's bare sharingan eye.

The jinchuuriki clenches his fists. His eyes suddenly water and it makes the other boy in the room stop his movements and watch Naruto, pencil spinning absently between his two fingers.

The blonde takes an unsteady breath, curling and unfurling his large hands over and over again.

"How does it not kill you, Sakura?"

The question weighs on the air like a fog. She snaps her gaze up to his.

"Excuse me?" Her voice raises an octave, a signal of a wrath yet to come. But Naruto holds steady, his lower lip trembling as it did earlier. He goes from being the tall, rambunctious yet undenied savior of Konoha to the little blue eyed boy whose only love was ramen before it became being a ninja.

A thought passes between them. Kakashi has a theory that once a set of people work together long enough, at least in the shinobi world, they can speak without words, only glances. And right now is one of those times and Naruto seems to breathe in sync with Sakura who grips the hem of her skirt tightly in her hands. He looks at her like he did when Sasuke betrayed them, sifting through the ashes of Team 7 that the Uchiha burned down in his wake.

Even now, Sai stiffens in his own respectable right as he follows their thoughts.

"Team Kakashi is the only family I have," Naruto says sternly. "I've already watched it fall apart once." He bores his cyan stare into her. "I am not going to do it again."

A pair of bright red sharingan eyes flash menacingly in their memory in unison.

And yet, tonight feels worse than that day without really being so.

The foundations of their team, the first layer being Kakashi, and the sturdy, enduring weight of Yamato crashing against one another feels so wrong that Sasuke's scars feel too healed in comparison.

Shikamaru once told her that the bond binding Team Kakashi together was stronger than most. An ache like the last vengeful Uchiha is something unparalleled until the Great Sannin themselves. Most squads crumble from external forces, distance, illness, and death. But the undoing of their team came from the inside, a weakness between them that will alone could not mend.

A second time burns almost worse than the first.

"Do you think I liked watching that?" she suddenly hisses. "Do you think I enjoyed watching Kakashi sensei give up and let the taichou pummel him? I had to reset the bones in his face, Naruto." She stands up now, unable to sit as guilt stirs in her like a wildfire. "This team is my family too!"

"Then tell me what's going on, Sakura," Naruto whines, almost desperately. His hands go out in front of him like a plea and the anger inside her resettles into nothing but a dimming spark. "Help us fix this for them. Taichou and sensei are friends. And friends don't treat each other like that!"

Sakura isn't sure if she crosses her arms to show her annoyance or to hold herself together. Naruto stands before her, asking for once in his life for her to lend him some strength. To show him how to make things right. That's always been his job, not hers. People will follow Naruto into the dark until the day he takes his last breath because that's just the way he is.

Even then when he was nothing but an annoying brat, he kept Team 7 together. Sakura was only ever dead weight, a bystander while Naruto did the dirty work. While Kakashi shouldered the blame.

Just as insignificant as she is now when for the first time, he asks her to do the right thing, to help him where he really needs it and she can't even open her mouth to give him an answer.

The truth rattles into her spine and she can't find it in her to say anything more. She wants him to understand. She needs him to know so that he will stop looking at her like something that will shatter if he doesn't do anything about the cavern splitting this team apart, once again, from the inside.

The baby growing in Sakura seems to be speaking in volumes for her, calling out to Naruto to learn the truth behind Yamato's unseeing eyes as he mercilessly pounded his fist into Kakashi's face.

It's like a bad dream that they kept having while they're wide awake.

The pink haired kunoichi suddenly hops over the coffee table and pulls the jinchuuriki in her arms. Salvation lies in the heat that radiates off his lean chest and he rests his chin atop her pink head. His strong arms go around her and they stand like that for a long time. In the face of Sasuke's betrayal, in the face of Pain, and in this inner circle violence, they hold onto each other as they always have.

Naruto feels wet spots sink into his orange jacket and he knows that Sakura is crying but doesn't mention it.

It is a secrecy that cuts the tie between them like a knife and yet, she is the only one who can feel it slack beneath the weight of all that she carries on her own shoulders. Naruto is not yet ready to know the identity of the person who caused the disruption in what had previously been their stability. Kakashi and Yamato had been the backs upon which this team found common ground.

She can't tell him the truth.

Sakura's hands tighten against his shoulders and she takes a deep breath of his sunlit summer air with a hint of salty ramen scent.

"You should go see Yamato," she breathes back into his neck. "Make sure he's alright."

Naruto takes her at arm's length and searches her face, confused.

"I thought it would be better if you-"

She touches a soft hand to his whiskered cheek and he calms beneath her fingers. Sakura feels guilty for sending him away. But amongst the ties that she hurriedly tries to sew back together in her own life, she cannot take on the weight of the ones he tries to hand off to her. Not yet.

"Please. It's just-" she lowers her eyes to the floor, "It's too soon for me. I don't think he wants to see me." A single truth in the midst of one big lie.

They stay like that, Naruto sizing her up and trying to do what he always had trouble doing; figure her out. The jinchuuriki pulls her back in for one last hug. Sakura takes as much warmth and strength that she can while her arms are around him before he gently breaks away once again. Her fingers linger on his orange sleeve as him and Sai get ready to leave. She sees them out.

The pale boy gives her shoulder the lightest of touches as he passes by her before he slips out into the night cold night air, waiting on the edge of the staircase for his companion.

"Are you going to stay here with Kaka-sensei?" Naruto asks as he slips back into his sandals slowly. Sakura absently chews on her lip.

"He didn't let me heal all the bruises just yet. I want to make sure he's not in too much pain."

Her best friend gives a short nod and turns to leave, slight disappointment sagging his shoulders.

"Naruto?"

His blue eyes find her once again. Sakura is almost overcome with the need to spill the truth like a water jutsu and let it overflow both of them. This is her brother and yet, she can't bring herself to confide in him.

He wouldn't forgive her.

"I think Kakashi-sensei and taichou will come around," she says slowly. He waits for her to elaborate but she doesn't, leaving her statement open ended but optimistic nonetheless. She tries a smile and Naruto can't help but return it. He rubs the back of his blonde head softly.

"Ah, don't worry, Sakura-chan." Even if it's only for a moment, his whiskered face lights up in it's usual blinding way. She wishes she had a sharingan to implant the image in her memory for when she needs it. "We'll figure it out."

The blonde gives her a wave over his shoulder and the two boys speed off into the village without another word in the direction of the taichou's apartment to the east. She waits until she can no longer hear their sandals against the dirt to shut the door behind them.

* * *

"He's upset."

It's more of a question than a statement. Sakura jumps slightly at the unexpected sound of his voice filtering it's way through the dark. She can faintly find the outline of his tall frame against the bedsheets. The girl makes her way over to his desk and turns on the soft light of his lamp.

Kakashi sits up, rather painfully, his left arm resting casually against his knee. He watches her pick up the scrolls and documents of the war plans off the floor and set them on his work space. Ino's file sits open, her pale blue eyes staring smugly at the camera and Sakura has to look away quickly.

"I thought I told you to go to sleep," she says softly, taking it upon herself to organize the papers and rosters in a neat fashion so that he's not scrambling for them in the morning like she knows he will.

"How could I with all his shouting?" He makes an attempt at a chuckle to convey his endearment. But it's dry and doesn't weigh as much as it should. "I didn't mean to scare him."

Sakura smiles wryly. Any sentence implying fear and Naruto at the same time sounds off and foreign. But there's not another word to describe the raw anxiousness that she and her blonde counterpart felt as they watched the two main jonin in their lives try to harm each other.

She remembers a mission in the Land of Iron. Kakashi and Yamato sat huddled close together, talking quietly amongst themselves. The taichou's features turned up in a smile, the flames of the campfire flickering against his tan skin as they watched Naruto tiredly try to climb into his sleeping bag. A bug, as big as Sakura's face, jumped out at him and he screamed like a girl, tripping over himself and landing in Sai's lap who hastily tried to put away his Beast scrolls to hide the evidence.

The two captains burst out laughing, Yamato's voice rumbling the loudest as Kakashi's one mischievous eye found Sakura's amused stare from across the fire

One of the many fond memories she stores away for rainy days. And yet they all feel spoiled.

"How's the pain?" she asks, changing the subject. Kakashi lets her, leaning his silver head against the headboard. He gives an uncommitted shrug.

Sighing, she goes over to his bedside and leans in close to examine the yellowing bruises across his face and the healed but obvious cavern splitting his bottom lip. Her fingers touch his left eye, purple and black along the edges. Sakura didn't have time to give him a full treatment. Naruto was being too noisy and Kakashi waved her off, mumbling something about how some scars deserve to be permanent.

He tries not to breathe too loudly when she stands this close.

"Your jaw still hurt?" She doesn't wait for an answer, knowing that it's more than likely he won't give her one. Sakura presses her palm to the his right jaw line and he flinches. "Stupid man," she grumbles to him, immediately igniting her hand with green chakra. "You set your mandible wrong back there in the bar." Kakashi relaxes under the soothing wave of relief flooding into his joints after his ill attempt at fixing his face resulted in the bones grinding against one another.

"Lousy fool," she adds.

He raises a single silver eyebrow.

"You're starting to sound like Lady Tsunade. I believe her favorite words to address me are both 'stupid man' and 'fool', usually used in the same sentence."

Kakashi tries to give her an eye crinkling smile just to annoy her but he winces, the muscles in his face not responding well to the gesture. Sakura sighs and sits on the edge of the bed. Her thigh presses against his and Kakashi tries to subtly move it away.

The kunoichi pretends not to notice.

Medicinal green floods her palm and she presses it to the bruises and aches along his defined, and now perfect, jawline, his silver brow, and the deep crack in his bottom lip. Her eyes linger a little too long there after she moves her hand to a different spot. Kakashi clears her throat and she jumps her gaze away from his mouth as if it had burned her.

Sakura moves her finger over his right eye and his wrist comes up to stop her. The warmth of his palm holds her in place and she looks at him, an annoyed expression pulling together her dull pink eyebrows.

"Leave it," he mumbles.

"It's going to look rather hideous in a day or two." Sakura tries to shake him off. "Plus it'll be sore."

His grip on her wrist tightens but it is not unwelcoming. His thumb strokes the underside of her arm lightly, only once as his mismatched eyes stare into her confused viridian ones. The sharingan whirls and clicks her face into memory.

"He earned it," is all Kakashi says, leaving her to guess the rest of his explanation.

She realizes that by admitting his defeat publicly, the evidence still on the only visible part of his face, Kakashi will draw the negative attention away from Yamato who had set the fire in the first place.

It makes her finally drop her hand. Kakashi's digits linger in the air, surprised at the sudden absence in his fingers.

Silence lapses over them once again but it isn't awkward. She simply searches his face for all the things that he will not say. Sakura has find herself able to find them etched into the places where he normally hid behind his mask. When his face is bare, she cannot unsee what he hasn't trained to be discreet.

And it unsettles him.

"I should get going," she suddenly says. It jarrs Kakashi out of studying the curve of her long eyelashes and he covers up his frown as a wince of pain when he shifts on the bed.

"It's rather late, Sakura."

She gives another wry smile. The dryness of it doesn't comfort him.

"I don't have a curfew," she retorts back simply. Yet the kunoichi makes no sudden moves to get off the edge of his bed, their eyes still caught in a strange waltz between each other, their hands, and longing in the air between them.

Kakashi gets a sudden urge of bravery.

"Why didn't you go to him?"

"Because of the mess that your face-"

"Don't make me repeat myself."

He doesn't say this rudely, his tone dropping down to a pensive rumble as they sit in the dim light of his room. Her answer was not the one either of them were looking for.

"Why send Naruto?"

The pink haired woman scoffs lightly and then purses her lips. She looks at him seriously.

"Would you have wanted to see me after that?"

Kakashi doesn't miss a beat.

"Then and every minute after."

Jade eyes widen for a second before they recover. They drop down to her fingers fidgeting in her lap and Kakashi takes to watching the shadows that the previously observed eyelashes make against her pale cheeks.

Her silence drags on for too long and Kakashi sighs, knowing he will no longer get an answer from her. A habit that she's picked up from him well over the years.

She gets up to what he thinks will be to leave. But instead of going to the doors, she goes to his dresser and pulls open the second drawer from the top. Delicate fingers tug out a fresh jonin shirt.

The man's cheek redden as she undresses in front of him. He looks away politely and pretends to become interested in the dirt under his fingernails. A few moments later, the bed dips beneath a sudden change in weight and she's settling beside him, back against the headboard, legs stretched out in front of her. The long sleeves of his shirt cover her palms and she grasps them tightly, bringing one up to her lips.

He does nothing to make her change her mind.

"Do you remember Hoshigakure ?" she asks suddenly. Kakashi doesn't respond. "The one where there was a fire set by some genin during their training that destroyed their armory and the Leaf sent supplies and basic ninja tools as relief? We guarded the-

"Cargo from bandits. One of our first assignments."

Sakura nods and continues. Her fingers absently pick at a frayed thread on his navy blue pants.

"I was so mad at you because you said that I was always the first to go to sleep and the last to wake up, not even bothering to take a watch." Her lips turn up in a small smile. Kakashi watches from the corner of his eye as it flickers from being sad to nostalgic.

But then again, maybe there wasn't a line between the two at all.

"So I wanted to prove myself and volunteered to take third watch."

"The boys bet that you wouldn't make it past ten minutes," he adds, chuckling at the same memory now that she guided him into it with her voice. The third was always the toughest to take, fingering the line between late night and early morning when the urge to sleep became too heavy.

They were still so green then, admiring his every word and movement because if they blinked, they would miss something. Even Sasuke-

Kakashi's insides grow cold and he lets her keep talking.

Sakura gives another soft smile and nods, her eyes finding his.

"I didn't even make it past five."

Kakashi laughs and he realizes that her hand had found his against the bed sheets. Their fingers intertwine and the copy ninja wondered what the gesture means in the middle of this story but he did not lean away from it.

His large palm swallows her smaller one easily.

"I woke up with Naruto's stupid grin leering in my face when he came to take over. God, I was so mad."

Kakashi remembers it well. She didn't talk to them for the rest of the trip unless necessary. His small chuckle suddenly falters when he realizes, now older and wiser, what that must've meant for her when the boys joked and put her down because she constantly fell asleep during watch.

They fed her feelings of inadequacy, even him.

The jonin tightens his fingers around hers, as if a younger version of his self wants to hold on to the little girl whose eyes Sakura retells this story through. Call her back and let his genin know that they didn't mean it.

That one day she would be something great.

"I never told you this," she begins, drawing his attention back to the present where the woman Sakura is speaking and the strange, pitted feeling in his gut ebbs away. "But I was awake when you came to sit by me while I slept in order take my watch."

He stiffens but then she starts drawing small circles on the back of his hand with her thumb. A silent gesture to signal for him not to retreat inside himself just yet.

"A twig snapped under your sandal and you froze to make sure that you didn't wake me. I pretended to still be asleep because I was ashamed of letting Naruto and Sasuke win." Her jade gaze meet his and he wants to look away, this conversation steering into a direction a little to hard to face with her. But her thumb doesn't stop drawing against his skin so he lets her go on.

"You took your flak jacket off and draped it over me. Then you sat against the tree trunk where I was supposed to be awake and watching our surroundings and you-" she treads carefully, "you talked to the fourth Hokage out loud. Kind of like a prayer."

He can't look at her now. His eyes drop to their intertwined fingers and he lets himself become distracted by the heat of his skin against the cool touch of her palm. Sakura bites her lip but continues.

"You asked him to help you not screw us up. For him to tell you what to do so that you could be half the sensei that he was to you."

Something hot burns in the back of his throat and a weight sits on his chest, making it hard to breathe as easily as he should. He remembers that night clearly. Sakura, with her long pink hair spread out around her in a halo, seemingly peaceful against his side. And he lifted his eyes to the deep black sky and talked to the Yondaime Hokage because the need to had been burning in him so loudly as he watched his three genin reflect Kakashi's own team so well that it scared him.

"You asked Minato to give you the patience to teach and encourage Naruto like he did with Obito. To give you the wisdom to show Sasuke the way out from the dark with friendship and honor." He knows what comes next and he can't stop his heart from beating too wildly in his chest. She wasn't supposed to know. Not then. Maybe not even now.

"And you asked Lord Fourth to not be so damn cowardly when it came to me because I was so much like Rin. You were afraid to come near me, even if it was just to teach, because you saw too much of her in me that you thought I would break from the simplest of things."

The lump in Kakashi's throat grows. In this moment, in one single story, Sakura has come closer to the man beneath mask than anyone has before. Even Guy.

It terrifies him to death and breathes life into him at the same time.

"For my entire shinobi career, I thought you had looked at me and only saw weakness back then." Sakura gives a bitter smile, more to herself than him. "But it was fear of losing me to a fate so similar to hers, wasn't it?"

Kakashi doesn't know when exactly it happened but she had somehow curled up into his side and his arm is around her now, gluing her there like it's the only place she could possibly ever fit. Her words wash over him in waves and he clings to them like the shore, listening to her ebb and fold away his calluses with her tide.

"You asked me why I didn't follow Yamato. And the only answer I can give is that one day you were my annoying, irresponsible, clueless sensei. Then the next, I'm staring down at you, victorious in _something _against you for the first time, and I see the reflection of a different woman in your eyes." She touches her palm to his cheek and he leans into it. "While a new man stared back."

His fingers curl in her hair and she traces the scar over his sharingan softly.

"So I guess what they say about falling in love is true." She smiles, just a mere soft upward turn of her lips and yet, it is his favorite one to date.

"You do it slowly. And then all at once."

He cups the back of her neck and tilts her head up to kiss her. Her words ring in his head until he's sure he can feel it in his bones. His lips travel over hers lightly, needingly as his thumb strokes her cheek, fingers still tangled in her pink locks.

But he says nothing and breaks away to stand. For a moment, Sakura remains absolutely still, terrified and on the verge of a heartbreak so severe, she forgets to breathe. She starts to run over all the details of the last thirty minutes to see where she went wrong.

Sakura just confessed that she loves him and he pulled away.

Just as she's about to cry, Kakashi turns off the lamp on his desk and shrouds the room in black. The mattress beside her dips and he settles down on his side, facing her. Sakura is confused but then he opens his arms and in the faint moonlight bleeding in from the blinds, he raises a silver eyebrow.

"Well?" is all he says.

The kunoichi wipes the pooling tears from her eyes and settles down next to him. Expertly, as if in absolute habit, he tangles his legs with hers the way she likes them to be and pulls her into his chest.

Kakashi doesn't have to say it back. And Sakura is sure that he wants to but simply can't. This is as close as she will get but she doesn't mind at all.

The sigh falling from his lips and into her hair as she buries herself deeper into his strong arms is enough for her. And maybe that's why she knows Kakashi loves her too.

Because she doesn't need more than that.

"You know," he mumbles against her ear, "I don't really mind the dresses and the makeup and the glitter." Kakashi's hand rubs swirls over her smooth thigh. "It's the bossy-ness that will drive me crazy."

It takes Sakura awhile to understand what he means. But then his fingers move up to skim underneath his jonin shirt and he begins to trace the same pattern as before over the slightly raised bump of her abdomen.

She finally gets it and she can't help but laugh. Her entire body shakes with amusement and before she realizes she can't stop, Kakashi joins her, chuckling deeply into the crook of her neck.

But while they're too busy whispering to each other in the dark about who her favorite parent will be, they don't notice the slightest of chakra presences at the door. Outside on the the porch, a strong hand leans down and places a box of Konoha's finest cigars on Kakashi's raggedy welcome mat. A white card settles softly against the metal surface, a note scrawled out in a familiar slant.

_For when we take our first victory. _

_Sincerely,_

_ Your Lieutenant. _


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the reviews and positive feedback, I still cannot accurately express how much it means to me. I wish I could update as quickly as I used to but work, as well as a weekend job bar tending, has taken over my life. But I haven't forgotten about you guys. Hopefully I can update more frequently. **

**With love,**

**Rae. **

* * *

Kakashi frowns at the screen.

"I don't see it."

Sakura huffs angrily and points.

"What do you mean you don't see it? You're staring right at it!"

"Raising your voice doesn't help," he adds cheerfully. The kunoichi purses her lips.

"Stupid man."

Dr. Yoshida clears his throat and the two expecting parents stop their bickering and give sheepish smiles to the graying man, Kakashi's eye simply crinkling above the hem of his mask.

"Hatake-san, if I may." A wrinkled finger points to the left hand corner of the ultrasound monitor. The shinobi leans in closer, his hand still trapped in Sakura's. His one gray eye goes wide and he touches a fingertip to where he can finally see his baby amongst the grays and black hues of Sakura's womb.

She waits for him to have a serious, heart wrenching moment as he contemplates the wonder that is fatherhood on a level deeper than before with his child right in front of him.

Kakashi squeezes her hand, still unable to take his eye off the monitor for a few more moments, and then turns to the doctor.

"Is the head supposed to look like that?"

The kunoichi scowls at him, ripping her fingers from his grasp to place them around her growing belly. Anyone would only suspect that Sakura has been putting on a little weight but Kakashi swears that the baby stretches full inches over night. She finds his exaggerations endearing, if not familiar.

But mostly annoying.

Sakura hisses a little as the doctor moves the cold metal of the ultrasound over her abdomen. Dr. Yoshida laughs at the copy ninja's comment, waving it off with an aging hand.

"Yes, yes, it is quite normal. The baby's cranium will even out as it continues to grow." He wanders the tool around her small protruding belly. "Right now, he or she has begun to rapidly develop their organs; the brain, the liver, the central nervous system, and-

"Do they," Kakashi interrupts, swiveling his eye between the older man and the monitor anxiously, "you know, work?"

"Stop asking stupid questions!" she says exasperatedly, taking a swipe at the back of his silver head. He dodges it without even looking.

Dr. Yoshida, still chuckling, pauses right where he wants to.

"Everything works just fine, Hatake-san." He watches Kakashi grow still. "Especially the heart."

The shinobi's fingers blindly grapple for his own chest, trying to make sure that it's not the sound of his own pulse that he hears. A thunderous beat drowns out all other noise, even Sakura's sniffling, and he stares wildly at the screen.

Maybe fatherhood has made him crazy but Kakashi can swear that his heart matches pace with that of his child's. Sakura holds her hand out, a little blindy, as she wipes away her tears with the sleeve of her shirt. He takes it without even looking, gripping onto her fingers with both hands as if she's the only thing that reminds him that this isn't a dream.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." He swallows hard. "I lied to you."

The kunoichi's eyes snap to the back of his head and she glares at him, all the joy and lightness gone from her glowing face. His fingers are suddenly being crushed.

"Lied about what?" she asks between her teeth.

But even though his hand might break beneath hers, Kakashi barely flinches. He watches the steady, rapid climb and fall of the heart monitor.

"Last night I told you that you're laugh was the most beautiful thing I ever heard. Even when you snort."

Sakura blushes as Dr. Yoshida holds back a laugh, hiding her embarrassment with her pink locks.

"I lied," he repeats again.

Kakashi doesn't need to give an explanation. Both Sakura and her doctor look at him with soft eyes as he sits on the edge of her examination table, masked lips brushing the tips of her knuckles absently as he continues to listen, with all his ninja like might, to the loud and overwhelming sound of their child's pulse.

"Your baby is a healthy one, Sakura-san. The heart is strong."

Dr. Yoshida gives a knowing smile in the direction of Kakashi as he turns off the monitor, the sound fading from the room slowly. The copy ninja nearly snaps his head up, the loss of the noise an apparent loss on his masked face.

"He or she will make a fine shinobi one day. Just like the parents," the doctor says proudly as he gets up from his chair. He takes a towel and rubs the cool gel off of Sakura's abdomen so that she may pull down her shirt. She sits up slowly and tangles her fingers in Kakashi's silver hair but he hardly notices.

His one gray eye stares at the blank screen.

"I hope they won't be," he mumbles. Sakura's hand stops from rubbing her fingers into his scalp.

"W-what you do you mean?" Jade eyes narrow with concern and she chews on her bottom lip. But Dr. Yoshida, the mediator that he is, simply chuckles and gives the copy ninja a pat on his shoulder.

"Your father said the same thing when he learned your mother was going to have a son."

The mood of the room changes and his child, for a moment, is forgotten as Kakashi swivels an alarmed eye to the doctor. He asks the question burning in his chest without having to say any words.

Dr. Yoshida nods, giving a nostalgic smile.

"Oh yes, I was a young man back then. Your father still a prominently powerful shinobi."

Sakura slips her hand into Kakashi's, an automatic response to the stimuli of his body shifting beneath his own weight, unsure of where to stand or how to sit. They're crossing into uncharted territory and it always unnerves him.

So he clenches his fingers against hers.

Dr. Yoshida's soft blue irises watch Kakashi fondly for a moment before he goes back to filling out the rest of Sakura's patient file.

"Your mother was rather beautiful. One of my first patients when I moved to the village."

If Sakura isn't mistaken, the right hand side of Kakashi's mouth turns upward, but only slightly.

"But as I was saying," the doctor says cheerfully, handing Sakura another bottle of prenatal vitamins, "your father said the same thing about hoping his son wouldn't be as great of a shinobi as he." The older man taps the edge of his pen to his temple. "A man's natural paternal instinct to protect his child from all the world if he has to."

He scribbles something on a white slip and hands it to Sakura who takes it, a little shakily. In all their time together, Kakashi still hasn't mentioned his father. News of Sakumo Hatake, and ultimately a civilian wife, is ground breaking to her.

And maybe even to him.

"Alright, Sakura-san. I will see you back here in another four weeks!" he smiles at her and Sakura, recovering quickly, grins right back. "And exciting news," he touches a finger to the tip of her nose playfully, "we'll get to find out if you'll be having a boy or girl by then!"

The kunoichi can barely contain her excitement as she hops off of the examination table. Kakashi holds out some cash absently and she takes it from him, kissing his temple before she whisks off to the front desk to pay for her visit.

Dr. Yoshida's gentle smile suddenly falters once they're alone.

"I apologize if I offended you by talking about your father, Hatake-san."

The shinobi holds up a gloved hand to stop him. He gives an eye crinkle, unsure if the older man can tell if he really is smiling or not. But he goes on, a little too eager to high tail it out of there even though he yearns to listen to the sound of his child's heartbeat again.

"It's fine, really. I appreciate your help with Sakura."

The doctor nods but pushes his glasses on top of his head tiredly. Kakashi notices his hair is almost as white as his own.

"Hatake-san, please. You two seem fairly good for each other. It is imperative that you convince her to take her maternity leave from active duty. War has come to Konoha and you are at the center of it all. It is not safe-"

The ninja stands, suddenly towering over the doctor and he closes his mouth softly. Kakashi's eye flashes with something that Dr. Yoshida can't quite name. He bows his head.

"Forgive me, I have spoken out of line."

Kakashi moves to leave but he passes right at the man's shoulder. His gloved hand comes and rests on the stark white lab coat and the doctor visibly sighs with relief.

"I try every day, Yoshida-san. Believe me." The copy ninja gives an almost sad chuckle. "But her Will of Fire burns too great."

"Your child can't make it through war, no matter how strong the heart is," the doctor suddenly snaps. His old lungs take a harsh breath but he quickly recovers and bows his head once again when Kakashi drops his hand from the man's shoulder.

"The Will of Fire that you shinobi are always speaking of does not protect the life growing inside of her." Dr. Yoshida stares darkly at the floor. "I have seen too many kunoichi grieve for the loss of their unborn children." He glances sideways at Kakashi who has suddenly grown too silent.

"She already sacrifices you as the lover of the Commander must do for her country."

Kakashi's jaw tightens beneath his mask.

"How much more will she give for Konoha, Hatake-san?"

A sudden shock of pink pokes it's way through the door. She smiles brightly at the two men who pretend to exchange pleasantries.

He can't help but notice the softness in her jade orbs when she looks at him.

"You're late for training, _Commander_," she drawls with a smirk. Kakashi gives an eye crinkle in return and waves her away. Sakura giggles and disappears once again.

"Are you going to marry her?" the doctor asks suddenly. The mood shifts to something more pleasant. "You're getting old, Hatake-san. Just look at your hair."

The question startles him but finds that Dr. Yoshida is once again peering up at the shinobi kindly, pleased with his own joke. Kakashi shakes his head, chuckling, and takes a step to leave.

"Thank you, Yoshida-san." The copy ninja's hand hesitates over the door handle like he wants to say more. But the doctor knows he won't.

Kakashi pulls it open and slips out into the hallway where the older man can hear Sakura berating him for just how late he actually is, forcing Yamato to do all the work as always. The shinobi gives a deep voiced reply, a little sullenly, and there's the unmistakable smack of her palm upside his head.

Dr. Yoshida laughs until he hears the bells of the lobby ring with their departure.

* * *

"Why is Naruto laying down?" ask Kakashi absently, eyes glued to an Icha Icha book as he strolls up to Tenzou. The younger man glances sideways at the copy ninja.

"Why are you late?" he retorts simply. Although the captain tries to stop it, the corner of his mouth starts to turn up in a smirk as Kakashi sighs, stowing his book away. "Let me guess," he starts, "You got lost on the path of life."

"No, not quite," he mumbles to his almond eyed counterpart, crossing his arms over his chest. Kakashi eyes Naruto who lays on the grass conspicuously, panting heavily while the rest of the battalion warms up for their afternoon training by running laps.

His stature accidentally mimics Yamato but he knows it makes them look the part. The two undeniable pillars of their shinobi force.

"Lady Hokage called me in." His slow, usually flat voice drops to a more serious tone. Yamato raises a single brown eyebrow but doesn't say much else. "They're on the move."

Kakashi watches Akamaru step on the back of Konohamaru's scarf, causing the boy to stumble and fall. His face hits the dirt and Kiba stops to roar with laughter, doubled over.

"How have they not been intercepted until now?" the captain asks sternly. His right hand grips his bicep tightly to avoid a tremor. The copy ninja, in response, sighs tiredly and rubs the back of his silver head.

"The Anbu is stretched thin. Too many enemy camps and headquarters to observe at all times leaves open spaces for Jōmae to slip through," he adds bitterly.

A few moments pass by in silence between the two men.

Tension still permeates the air every once in awhile when she comes around or when someone else mentions her. But Yamato and Kakashi do not dwell.

They have a war to win.

"What they lack in quantity, they make up for with intelligence. The speciality of Jōmae is stealth and secrecy." The captain's blood suddenly runs cold. "The Leaf is smart. But we sometimes rely too much on the strength of our bodies."

"Or the strength of our numbers," Kakashi says, finishing off Yamato's thought. The younger ninja nods, duly noting his companion's tone, an old war veteran's regret laced in his voice.

"How soon?" Tenzou's right hand can't help another twitch. Kakashi looks up at the midday sky.

"Soon enough."

Tenzou mumbles an agreement, about to say something else when Naruto collapses back onto the grass, whining and moaning about how stupid all of this is. He raises a brown eyebrow.

"You better get back up and keep running, Naruto! This is no time to be taking a break!"

The blonde turns his fed up blue eyes to his taichou and hisses back loudly,

"I'm gathering Sage Energy!"

"Oh really?" replies Yamato with a dangerous smirk. "You're breathing too hard to become one with nature, Naruto."

"Then why don't you come out here and run with me, you lazy ass!" the jinchuuriki spits back, scowling at the two jonin. Kakashi gives the boy an eye crinkling smile.

"Because Yamato would run circles around you all day."

Before they know it, Naruto marches up to the two men and practically drags Tenzou out into the training grounds, hollering about how he won't be shown up by somebody who just sits around on the side lines. The brown haired man looks disgustedly back at Kakashi for once again gaining the upper hand and designing this plan from the get go. Probably just to get more reading time.

But Yamato runs too quickly alongside his teammate to notice that Kakashi's eyes aren't moving across the page.

He stares out discreetly as his battalion begins to practice formations that they probably won't even use. The Inuzuka boy and his ninken battle side by side with Konohamaru while Naruto and Sai do a combo attack concerning a winged ink beast and the Rasengan.

Sakura, as always, is missing from the equation. Their teamwork would go smoothly with her but the medical core requires her abilities more than he does.

Kakashi makes mental notes, moving players around on the field like shogi pieces, trying to do something, anything, to quell the ache in the back of his head that seems to be gnawing it's way through to his sharingan which whirls restlessly.

The copy ninja watches Yamato go into a storm of taijutsu with a young Hyuuga chuunin, giving the boy pointers on how to fight if he is unable to use the gentle fist style. Kakashi can't help but think about how useless it is for Tenzou to waste his time.

War is quick. War is fast, and violent. There are no attack plans when it comes down to the dirt, blood and sweat of your body against an enemy.

Formations and laps do not save you from watching the lights dim from the eyes of friend or foe.

Kakashi remembers all too well the way blood feels when it comes running across a child's hands.

"_She already sacrifices you as the lover of the Commander must do for her country. How much more does she need to give Konoha?" _

Kakashi clenches his jaw.

"_How soon?"_ _Tenzou asks, his voice betraying his calm almond gaze._

"_Soon enough._

The silver haired jonin closes his eyes after watching Naruto playfully tackle Konohamaru to the ground, grappling and biting each other until the other surrenders. Yamato watches, panting slightly, hands on his hips. The man's lips curl up in a smile and he throws his head back and laughs when the younger ninja completely out maneuvers the hero of the Leaf.

"_I am not the Hokage!" he bellows to an unblinking Tsunade. Immediately, Kakashi is ashamed and gives a small bow of apology. But all she does is smile. _

"_You would've been great."_

The copy ninja suddenly stands, squinting out into the sun.

"Yamato! Line 'em up."

The captain nods his head and begins to call out for the battalion to fall in line. Some hustle to their places while others drag their feet, bickering and whining the whole way. It makes Kakashi grit his teeth.

They wait for the Commander to speak as he leans up to his full height, arms crossed against his chest. Yamato joins him, the lighter half of authority to the dark and brooding half that Kakashi holds.

He is the strong hand while Yamato has the strong tongue.

At least, that's how it usually went.

"Some of you have never seen war," Kakashi begins, stepping out in front of Tenzou to pace slowly in front of his battalion. "And even more of you can hardly imagine it."

Kakashi whirls on his heels and points to Kiba.

"Who would you save?"

The Inuzuka sneers up at Kakashi.

"Everyone," he answers simply. The copy ninja gives an eye crinkle but Tenzou chills at it's fakeness. It makes Naruto shift uncomfortably.

"Not what I was looking for, Kiba. Who would you save?" he asks again.

The boy's canines disappear back behind his lips and he frowns at the jonin, the question lost on his tattooed face.

"Make a choice," Kakashi taunts, pointing to his invisible watch. "The clock is ticking."

Kurenai's student looks around nervously, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"This is stupid-"

"No, this is life or death, who would you save?"

"As many as I-"

"Hinata Hyuuga or Konohamaru Sarutobi?"

Kiba's lips break into an inhuman growl.

"Excuse me?" he barks, hands balling into fists. Akamaru raises his haunches with a low rumble.

From somewhere off to the side, Asuma's nephew blanches.

"You heard me. The enemy has cornered the three of you and numbers are no longer on your side. They have your backs pressed up against the wall and with your keen instincts, I know you would be able to _smell _that victory would be impossible. So, I'll ask you one more time," Kakashi closes the distance between him and the younger man, "Your teammate's life or the young genin who has yet to see as many years as you. Choose one to save." Kakashi leans forward with an eye crinkling smile into Kiba's face who pulls back, horrified.

"I don't-that's not fair!" he stutters.

"They're closing in on you, Kiba. Konohamaru has been pinned down, a kunai to his throat and Hinata is being dragged away. Do you know what happens to some kunoichi in war?"

"How do you expect me to choose?!"

"Time's up!" Kakashi suddenly calls. Kiba flinches back.

"You all die," he says with faux cheerfulness.

Konohamaru bristles at this and clenches his hands into tight fists.

"Kakashi-sensei, it's not okay for you to-"

The jonin whirls on his heel and darts into the battalion's formation, stopping right beside the young Sarutobi who freezes up instantly. He stares straight ahead, refusing to look up at the copy ninja, expecting a scolding.

"Who would you save?"

The genin grits his teeth, suddenly feeling like the scarf is constricting around his neck and he can't breathe.

"I don't hear an answer, Sarutobi. Who would you save?" Still no answer. Kakashi puts a finger to his chin and taps it thoughtfully. "Let me see here…"

Naruto stares pointedly at Yamato to make this stop. But the taichou shakes his head, arms crossed and eyes serious. He intends to let Kakashi make his point, no matter how strong it may come across.

Even if it does hurt.

"Kurenai, the aunt of your cousin, the almost wife of your beloved uncle or Moegi, your teammate?"

The young boy nearly falls over, bewildered eyes burning up into Kakashi's.

"Pick one, Konohamaru." The jonin leans in closer and whispers, just loud enough for everyone nearby to hear, "Or are you not the shinobi that your grandfather taught you to be?"

"That's enough, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto suddenly shouts when his little brother begins to choke back tears.

Kakashi spares no one. He swerves through the crowd and in a flash, he appears before his own student. Naruto's whiskered face stares incredulously at him, mouth tight.

"Leave him alone," the blonde hisses.

"And what about you, Naruto? Hero of the Leaf." Kakashi gives a mocking smile and the jinchuuriki nearly winces. "Let me guess, your answer will be that you'll save _everyone_ again, won't you?" He puts a hand on the boy's shoulder. "But let me break something down for you, Naruto."

Sai, from beside his counterpart, looks away. He frowns.

"You can't save everyone."

"Then I'll die trying!" the blonde bellows, shoving Kakashi's hand off of him.

"Between me and Iruka, who you would save?" Wide azure eyes stare back at him.

The jinchuuriki trembles where he stands.

"That's not fair," he grunts through his teeth.

"I won't be upset if you say Iruka, Naruto."

"Both of you," the boy blurts out desperately.

"The time and circumstance don't allow for two. It's him or me, who do you choose?"

The boy suddenly stops being angry. He pleads.

"Kakashi-sensei, don't make me-"

"Choose, Naruto."

"I can't!"

"Iruka Umino, the first person who ever believed you were worth something, or you sensei? Time is ticking, Naruto."

"Please, I don't want to-"

"I am your Commander and I demand you to choose!"

Naruto reaches out both of his large hands and shoves Kakashi.

"YOU!"

A heavy hush falls over the entire battalion as they watch Naruto shudder beneath his own breaths. He can't look at his sensei.

"I would choose you," Naruto whispers sullenly. Tears threaten his sky blue eyes.

Kakashi watches his student sadly. He didn't think Naruto would pick him. The silver haired jonin resists the urge to pull his student towards him.

An ache grows in his belly.

"Do you understand now?" asks Kakashi in a loud voice as he slowly backs away to stand by Tenzou once again. "Everything you are, everything that you could be, will change with your first step on the battlefield."

He looks out at all of them seriously, making contact with every person he can lay his eyes on. Some watch the ground, too stricken by his words. Others look at him with familiarity. A few nod.

"Destroy them before they destroy you, simple, isn't it?" He almost gives a smile. A veteran's sad turn of the lips. "But I want you to ask yourselves while you practice formations and run laps and complain about the silence from across the border; what price are you willing to pay?"

Kakashi narrows his one gray eye.

"War is not where heroes are born."

There's a profound silence upon all of them. Kakashi, as always, wants desperately to flee but he stands his ground, Tenzou with him. A few moments pass, pregnant with the air of learning something they wish they hadn't. Soon enough, Kiba is the first to break formation and start running again. Akamaru chases at his heels. And one by one, they fall in line after him, silent and burning in the way Kakashi had hoped to achieve.

Once satisfied with their new burst of dedication and rigor, Kakashi turns to leave. He wants to go see Sakura. But something stops him.

He was bred for war. Thrown out into the fray when he was only six. A child born of the blood and rage of battle.

And yet, this time around it feels more foreign than the chaos of fatherhood.

The thought makes his feet switch direction as he heads to the Memorial Stone. Only Minato-sensei can guide him now.

Tenzou watches him from the corner of his almond eye.

"Who would you choose?" he asks in a quiet voice. The tense, nearly clandestine tone is there, lingering on the edge of Yamato's words.

Sometimes, not even war is enough to make them forget.

Kakashi pauses, fingertips brushing over the edges of the newest ultrasound picture nestled in his pocket.

The answer has never been so clear and yet so blurry.

He gives Yamato a lazy wave over his shoulder and flashes away to the only place where no one would dare follow him.

The taichou watches him stride from rooftop to rooftop with a strange tangle in his gut.

There are still questions that need answering.

But as Tenzou watches his battalion continue to rehearse the formations and team line ups that the Commander laid out for them, he can't help but push them aside. Now is not the time to dwell.

_It's about surviving the survival._

* * *

"Shikamaru?"

"Mmm?" he replies gruffly.

Sakura watches the Nara boy stare intently at the shogi board in front of them.

"Do you love Ino?"

His entire body, along with his brain, stutters and he looks up at her, jaw slack. Cheeks go red and he tries to regain his composure, clearing his suddenly dry throat.

"What're you talking about, cherry?" he mumbles, trying to wave off the question by pretending to go back to studying the pieces in front of him. The sun sets on the Nara estate and Yoshino-san and Shikaku talk quietly amongst themselves in the kitchen, down the hall.

Shikamaru's handsome tan face is painted in orange and dusk. He scowls at his hand hovering over a pawn but he's not really looking at it.

He chews over his next words and Sakura waits patiently, as she always does.

"How do you define love? Personally speaking," he finally says after a few long minutes. She searches his dark golden brown eyes. There is no lazy smirk, no double edged sword to his words. It's a sincere question. And he waits for her answer.

Sakura slaps a knight down into it's place.

"It's a flame," she suddenly says. "Bright, consuming. Until there's nothing left of who you used to be, only who you are with that person."

Shikamaru waves this answer away nonchalantly.

"That's too permanent."

"Shouldn't it be that way?"

"Does it have to? You of all people should know that love is sometimes fleeting."

He don't say his name. Shikamaru finally moves his pawn while an old ache causes a twitch on the corner of his mouth.

"Sasuke was too cold to catch fire."

Sakura slips a lance over to the left. Shikamaru captures it.

"Do you think Ino is a flame?"

Sakura looks up and sees him staring back already. He doesn't say it outright. But it's there, lingering off the edge of his lips. It's the only way he can answer her question truthfully without compromising himself. And Sakura takes it gratefully.

He suddenly looks too much like his father. Speaks like an echo of the mighty Shikaku.

"No." Sakura listens to Yoshino-san berate her husband for forgetting to buy milk. "Ino is a bloom." Her pink lips tilt up, almost slyly. "Unfurling little by little because the cloud finally decided to stop raining on her."

The boy says nothing. But his eyes smile in a way that is too rare for Sakura to let go of just yet. She watches him hesitate over his bishop although he is no longer thinking of shogi.

"What's your definition of love, Sakura?" he asks again.

The kunoichi watches as the sun begins to cast shadows on his cheeks. They seem to dip and blend into Shikamaru's skin until they're one and the same.

"How do you breathe properly if they were to ever stop?"

Charcoal eyes tick behind her eyelids, counting down the moments until she can consume all of him once again when the door is locked and the world is only Kakashi, Sakura, and a life yet to be.

Shikamaru seems to be satisfied with this answer. He hums an agreement and takes her rook.

"After he died, I used to catch Kurenai-sensei clutching at her chest as if her lungs just decided to stop working." His name also goes unsaid but Sakura doesn't need to hear it. She never does. "But then their son was born and it was like she didn't have to know how to breathe anymore; the boy does it for her."

"And then the cycle begins again," she adds, moving her general to keep it from danger. Shikamaru's spiky head bobs in a nod as he strokes his chin, thinking.

Here, he looks too much like Asuma.

A few minutes go by and the scent of dinner wafts from the kitchen, the sun sinking lower down behind the trees of the Nara estate. She barely notices Shikaku slipping by to light the lanterns positioned on the ledges of the roof to illuminate the outdoor halls of his home. He doesn't speak and neither do they. But it's a warm silence. A welcoming one.

Sakura remembers why she visits so often nowadays. If there is one place in Konoha that would not judge her, it would be here.

"Shikamaru?"

"Mmm?"

She captures his pawn. A smirk plays on the edge of his mouth.

"Can you love two people at the same time?"

He doesn't miss a beat.

"You love Naruto and Sasuke at the same time, don't you?"

His name is beginning to taste foriegn on their tongues. He conveniently forgets to let it show.

"That's not what I mean."

Shikamaru arches a dark eyebrow at her without looking up. He moves his gold general next to his silver general, a barrier between the enemy and the King.

"Two flames at the same time, hmm?" he muses.

Sakura studies his formation and frowns, baffled. The Nara boy gives a sigh and rubs the back of his head.

"Most people think love is a straight line. From point A," Sakura slaps her piece down, "to point B," he snakes another in between her defenses, "and then the long stretch home."

"You don't think so?" She takes another pawn.

He retaliates and takes her silver general in return.

"Nothing is ever a straight line, cherry."

And to prove his point, within the next minute, Shikamaru has captured her King.

Sakura stares down at the silver and gold general, standing familiarly side by side. Her companion watches her closely.

"How do you know which piece to sacrifice?"

He gets the feeling that she's no longer talking about shogi.

"What price are you willing to pay?"

His words send shivers up her spine. But before she can reply, the door to the kitchen slides open. He leans against the frame, arms crossed. Shikaku jerks his head to the side, motioning for his son, silently as always, to come inside for dinner.

"You're welcome to stay, Sakura," says the patriarch, eyeing his son as he gets up lazily and stretches. Shikamaru offers her a hand and she takes it, letting him pull her up off the floor. "The boy will be more than willing to walk you home."

A mumble about troublesome things goes almost unnoticed as Shikamaru stuffs his hands in his pockets, ducking under his father's outstretched arm that leans lazily against the doorframe. Her friend disappears into the kitchen without another word.

Sakura and Shikamaru have a tendency to have ongoing conversations that never really call for goodbyes. Just as she's about to follow him inside, she stops.

She feels his chakra before she sees him.

Kakashi comes slouching out of the shadows of the Nara estate. He looks up at the slightly elevated platform of the house from his place on the grass and nods to Shikaku. The silver haired jonin hands him a few files which the older man tucks under his arm without glancing at them.

"You're welcome to stay for dinner as well, Kakashi." Shikaku's scarred face watches him closely, a hint of a smirk on his lips when the younger jonin ponders this seriously.

"As enticing as your wife's cooking is, as well as a round of shogi, I have to decline."

The Head of the Nara clan chuckles.

"Take Sakura with you. My son is impolite and refused to asked her to stay. Probably has a date with Ino later."

From inside, Shikamaru gives an sharp 'Dad!' and Shikaku smirks. He nods to Kakashi and gives a slight smile to Sakura before disappearing back into the kitchen.

The copy ninja reaches a hand out to help Sakura down onto the grass. His fingers linger on hers but they wait until Sakura has collected her sandals from the front of the Nara residence and they're a good distance away before intertwining their hands.

"I missed you," she exhales. Kakashi raises a silver eyebrow.

But he hums his agreement and she walks closer beside him, no doubt stealing his warmth as they trek on through the chilly January air. At some point, after Sakura becomes lost in recalling her latest discussion with Shikamaru, Kakashi had thrown a heavy arm over her shoulders when she started to shiver. She leans into his side thankfully and they carry on in silence.

The two of them are happy to just listen to the other breathe.

They take their time heading back to the village. Once they reach it, they have to distance themselves from the other and pretend for the sake of the rest of Konoha that they're not dying to touch again.

The secrecy is exhausting and it shows on Kakashi's one gray eye as they mingle amongst the nightlife flowing through the streets. Sakura watches the neon lights overhead project different shades of color onto his silver hair and she notices the dark rim beneath the single orb. She wants to trace it with her finger, to smudge it away as if it was simply dust but she keeps her hands swinging at her sides.

And it exhausts her as well.

"Have you eaten?" he finally asks.

Sakura shakes her pink head. Without another word, they swerve over to pick up some Bento Boxes from the store a block down from Kakashi's apartment, a personal favorite that has been carried on to Sakura considering it's one of the only foods that don't make her sick.

She waits patiently outside while he goes in, knowing her preferences as easily as his own, and doesn't take long before they're trekking home. The bag swings easily from his left hand.

Soon enough, they climb the stairs to Kakashi's apartment. Sakura leads the way in and he follows suit, slipping out of their sandals simultaneously.

She sets the table for them to eat, laying out the newspaper next to his Bento Box, and waits for him to come out from removing all his clothes except his pants. Sakura smiles softly at his exposed face, watching the distracted clench of his jaw as he thinks about something. But then it relaxes when he sees her and he smiles lightly back.

A strong, callused hand comes down on her hair and ruffles it as he passes by to take his seat across from her.

Still, the two say nothing as they eat dinner. Sakura reads the discarded sections of his paper once he's through with them and rather routinely, once they're finished, Kakashi throws away the trash and sets the dishes in the sink. When he comes back, rolling his sore left shoulder in it's socket, he smiles at Sakura curled up on the couch, a magazine in her lap.

He goes and sits next to her and immediately, without even looking up, she curls into his lap. Kakashi plants his lips against her neck softly, glancing down at her reading material. The copy nin can't help but chuckle against her collarbone.

"A little early to be thinking about nursery colors, isn't it?" he muses.

"It's never too early." Sakura flips the page easily. He studies it and then wrinkles his nose, a reaction she never knew he had until the mask finally came off all those months ago.

"Too much pink," he sighs.

"My hair is pink," she points out as if he's forgotten. Kakashi's finger curl up into her locks and he hums an approval. Her skin grows hot where he touches it.

"We could still have a boy, you know."

"Maybe," is all she says in return. He chuckles as he kisses behind her ear.

"We'll need to start saving some money so we can get a bigger place. " The page turns and Sakura smiles at the pink and green accented combination. But she immediately stops when she feels Kakashi go rigid against her. She turns her head to the side and watches him from the corner of her eye. He relaxes, or at least pretends to, and gives an eye crinkle.

Sakura frowns at it's ingenuity.

"Good idea." He pulls her closer but his voice is tight. His hands drift over her little bump of an abdomen thoughtfully and Sakura's dull pink eyebrows furrow.

"Is something wrong?"

The question hangs between them heavily. Kakashi suddenly wishes for their earlier silence.

"No, not at all."

He ducks down and leans his forehead against her shoulder. Sakura gives a half-hearted smirk and turns around in his lap so that she can face him. Kakashi leans his head back and looks up into her eyes as she kneels over him. Her fingers linger on his jaw.

"You're lying," she simply states. The copy nin lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding and shakes his head.

"It's nothing, Sakura. You worry too mu-"

She interrupts him by tilting his chin back farther. Jade searches charcoal and she bites her lip.

"I thought we were finished keeping secrets, Kakashi."

They stare at each other, his hands snaking around Sakura's waist slowly, while she refuses to let him off the hook. He tries to keep his face steady, to not give anything away but he pulls her closer a little too needingly.

"I have an inheritance from my father."

He doesn't continue but the curiosity burning in Sakura's eyes makes him keep going, despite the dread in his stomach asking him not to. Kakashi clears his suddenly dry throat.

"A rather large inheritance complete with the Hatake estate down towards the southern hills."

She looks at him, confused. A small, disbelieving laugh escapes her pretty lips. Heat starts to creep up Kakashi's neck and he wishes he could shove the words back into his mouth.

"Then why do you live in this little apartment if you have the entire estate to yourself?"

His gray eyes harden and Sakura regrets asking that. She feels silly and her fingers tighten into the taut skin of his shoulders.

"Could you live alone in your parent's house if they died, Sakura?"

Something inside of her tightens uneasily, refusing to think about the answer to that questions. She brings him forward by the nape of his burning neck and she touches his forehead to hers.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, "That was stupid of me."

Kakashi closes his eyes and breathes in her natural jasmine scent that likes to mingle with the pomegranate perfume of her shampoo. His fingers curl up in her soft locks and they stay like that for a few moments.

"If something were to happen," he explains slowly, "I've left all of it to the both of you. The money and the Hatake estate." Sakura's emerald gaze snaps open. "My will is in the last drawer of the right hand side of my desk."

Kakashi keeps his forehead to hers but stares down at the space where his child is growing so that he doesn't have to look her in the face. He can feel the shift in her body, the desire to flee mixed with the uncanny need to stay.

"Why are you telling me this?" she whispers shakily into his ear. His strong hand comes up and holds her face gently. His thumb strokes her delicate cheekbone. For some reason, his lungs have forgotten how to work.

So he steals the breath from Sakura and kisses her slowly. The girl wraps her arms around his neck and melts into him as he lingers his lips with hers. Sakura moves her mouth against his more quickly, fingers tugging at soft silver hair while his hands travel under her shirt and up the bare skin of her back.

Fire burns too hotly inside them both.

She suddenly pulls away, panting. Sad jade eyes watch him and Kakashi sighs when he notices the expression twitching on the lips he was just kissing.

"I don't want to argue tonight, Sakura." His voice is soft, almost pleading.

"Do you think you might die out there?"

Both his mismatched eyes swivel to hers. She shivers under the gaze of the sharingan that always seems to look too deeply into her.

It reminds her of childish things and missions in far away lands when her hair was long.

"You're a shinobi. The answer is clear."

"Don't lecture me, Kakashi."

Her words aren't sharp. The edges are softened by something that he can't quite put a name to. However, as always, her eyes are there to guide him where words cannot.

His lips quirk up sadly. "You know that my face is in every Bingo Book outside of the Land of Fire. Word has most likely already spread that I am the Commander of the Leaf's Shinobi Force." His voice make her tremble lightly and he pulls her closer. "They'll be looking for me the moment that I step on the battlefield."

His hand drifts down to cover the place where his child grows.

Tenzou's voice suddenly echoes back to Kakashi as he watches the severity of his words cut into his kunoichi until her eyes water.

"_Who would you choose, Kakashi?_

_ What price are you willing to pay?"_

The copy nin rattles as the Will of Fire, the duty and honor of serving his country, tries to consume the flame that Sakura and their unborn child have sparked down in his core.

Kakashi has never been more willing, and yet more hesitant, to die for the village.

_"She already sacrifices you as the lover of the Commander must do for her country. How much more will she give for Konoha, Hatake-san?"_

His hands cup Sakura's face as she chews nervously on her lower lip.

"I want you and the baby to be taken care of. Even if I'm not around to do it myself."

"Stop talking like that, Kakashi." Her voice breaks and something else inside him does as well.

Her heart beats wildly against his bare chest and Kakashi realizes that she isn't close enough. There's still too much space between them.

"Please," he adds in a low voice. "I am not the invincible sensei that you three once thought I was." Kakashi leans in and mumbles against her trembling lower lip. "If anything happens to me, take the money and the house and keep living."

His thumbs stroke away the wetness from her eyes.

"Besides, you're just not made to be the grieving widow type forever."

Sakura half laughs and half sobs, throwing herself flush against him to crash their lips together. Kakashi crawls ontop of her, pressing her small back into the cushions of the couch, and his mouth burns her name across her collarbone. And still, the space between them is not closed. Hands burn across warm skin and limbs entangle together on the couch, clawing at the distance between them until there's nothing but a trail of clothing left behind in their wake, all the way to the bedroom.

The gap between them finally closes when he takes his place between her thighs, the shiver of his skin against hers unparalleled to anything he has ever known in his twenty-nine years. Sakura whimpers beneath him and Kakashi captures it, holding it in his mouth while he tells her he loves her in one of the only ways that he can.

He makes it.

Sakura falls over the edge, his name crumbling from pink lips. Her hands slip along his shoulders, the muscles there coated in a sheen of sweat, a violent shudder ripping through him as he throws his head back. Delicate fingers curl up in his silver hair and he tries to bury himself in the scent of jasmine, pomegranate and something a little more feral. He collapses back onto her in a trembling heap.

She pants against his ear and it sends warmth down into his core and lets it simmer.

"Kakashi?" she mewls.

They lay against the sheets and teach other how to breathe again.

"Mmm?"

"I think it's time to tell Lady Tsunade."

He leans up on his elbows and looks down at her, frowning slightly.

"The whole village will know by sundown."

Sakura captures him in all of her limbs. Kakashi willingly obliges and holds her. He traces the slight bumps and ridges of her spine.

"I'm tired of hiding," is all she mumbles as she drifts off to sleep. He can feel her heartbeat slow against his ribs.

Kakashi shuts his eyes softly after the sharingan whirls and clicks this memory away into storage. One hand blindly reaches for the covers as he nestles down into her.

"So am I, Sakura," he whispers into the sudden stillness of their bedroom. "So am I."

The raised bump of her abdomen settles against the flat plane of his own, the fact that there is life growing between them a mesmerizing thought as sleep begins to take him as well.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: Long time, no see, hmm? Sorry about that. **

**This chapter took me forever to get through for some reason. Hopefully I'll be able to update faster in the future. **

**Please enjoy and thank you, as always, for all the follows and reviews. You guys are beautiful.**

**Love, Rae. **

* * *

It's there in an instant, standing the hairs up on the back of his neck and Kakashi's first instinct is to pull out the kunai strapped to the inside of the headboard.

He's on his feet, without a sound, the blade pressed thinly against the throat of the intruder with a half of a second. From his left, Sakura still sleeps soundly. Her breath stirs locks of her pink hair, his jonin shirt bunched up around her waist as she sprawls out on their bed.

If there wasn't an intruder in his home, he would have half a mind to chide her for her lack of vigilance.

But then he supposes that she doesn't need it when he wakes at the slightest creak of the floorboard or the tiniest unnatural disturbance of the wind from his now open window.

Kakashi drops the kunai as he stares into the porcelain face of Cat.

"It is unwise to leave your windows unlocked, Wolf-san," the Anbu muses, uncanny green eyes staring at him through the slits of his mask. "Someone could break in."

The copy ninja glances to the dawn just beginning to break over Konoha. He sets the blade down onto his nightstand and shoves his hands into his pockets, looking at Cat expectantly.

Even though this specific Black Op has often seen his uncovered face, Kakashi feels exposed. Especially since the other man's eyes keep darting back and forth between his captain and the pink haired kunoichi curled up in her sensei's bed.

Kakashi grinds his teeth.

"Eyes here." Cat narrows his gaze back to his commander. "Why are you here?"

The entire demeanor of the ninja changes. He shifts onto his right foot, a habit that Kakashi knows to be a nervous one and suddenly, the jonin's instincts kick in and he stands a little straighter. The sharingan whirls restlessly as he studies his subordinate.

"Cat," Kakashi demands again. "What is it?"

He's never been a man of many words, taking after his code name. This shinobi slinks in the shadows, quiet and sly. He uses his body, arches his shoulders, stiffens his spine to convey his concerns. And right now he's doing all of that, complete with the narrowing of his pupils into what looks like the eyes of a feline.

And they speak of fear.

Before Cat can even answer him, Kakashi moves about the room. Without caring, he strips off his pants and tugs on a clean pair. The copy ninja grabs bandages and tape from his dresser to tie his kunai holder around his leg.

"How long ago?" he asks as he pulls on a jonin shirt, shoving his arms through quickly so that he can pull up the mask over his face. It gives him no comfort as it usually would. Kakashi's insides march like ants, trampling adrenaline into his blood until his ungloved hands begin to tremble, slightly.

"The initial boundary infiltration was thirteen minutes ago."

Kakashi snaps his head to Cat as he zips up his flak jacket.

"_Thirteen? _It took thirteen whole minutes to report to me that Konoha is on the brink of an invasion?"

Sakura stirs behind him as he raises his voice. He spares her a quick glance before he starts pocketing scrolls into the hidden cavities of his vest.

"They disposed of the dispatch team that was sent to investigate," Cat reports mechanically. But Kakashi can feel him shifting back and forth on the balls of his feet, ready to move. Ready to kill. "Reinforcements arrived within the eight minute gap of radio silence and eliminated the intrusion. But-"

"They were only scouts," Kakashi finishes. A familiar charge runs through his limbs and he feels his body reacting to the call of war as it did when he was a boy. It rattles his spine and Kakashi has to turn away as he straps his father's blade to his back.

"The men sent out to scour the perimeter reported that we're expecting the first wave within the next ten minutes."

"How many?" asks the jonin as he attaches his weapon pouch to the back of his hip.

"About two hundred, sir."

Kakashi turns slowly to face Cat, his right hand clutching his headband a little too tightly. The Anbu averts his eye from the sudden glare of the sharingan.

"Two hundred?" he asks through his teeth. "For a first wave?"

The copy ninja ties his Konoha insignia around his forehead. He doesn't bother covering his left eye. His hands shake with the raw dread curling up into his fingers as he tugs on his gloves.

Cat suddenly goes absolutely still, shoulders raised as felines do as they prepare for a strike. Kakashi closes his eyes and takes a shaky breath. He puts an unsteady hand to his hair and runs it through.

Realization stings like a burn across his brain.

"It's the Rock, isn't it?"

Still, the Anbu says nothing. He watches his commander carefully.

"Answer me!"

Cat doesn't flinch but his breath catches in his throat as he speaks.

"The Rock has joined the Jōmae Alliance. Their reassurances of neutrality and good intentions towards the Land of Fire have been declared void. Lady Tsunade is sending envoys to Lightning and the Mist to ensure that they stay out of it."

Kakashi slams the drawer of his dresser closed.

"Tell the Suna soldiers to wait on standby. The Kazekage needs to be made aware of the change in circumstances." Kakashi turns back to Cat. "He agreed to a war with neighboring villages, not with a neighboring Great Nation." The jonin leans down and straps himself into his sandals. Eight minutes left.

"Your orders, sir?"

Kakashi sits on the edge of his bed, leaning up from getting into his shoes, and turns to see Sakura already watching him. Her eyes are still clouded with sleep but he can tell by the rapid rise and fall of her chest that she understands.

War has come.

"Secure the Hokage. Then mobilize Anko's battalion for the defense of the village. Tell Shikaku and Guy to send out only half of their forces. Keep the rest on standby until my say-so. Put Iruka Umino in charge of evacuation."

Kakashi stands and faces Cat who almost, just barely, shrinks back from the towering jonin. Gone are the droopy eyes of the lazy, disinterested shinobi.

The Commander of Konoha stands in his place. A legacy in his own right.

"Sound the alarm, soldier."

The Anbu nods but doesn't move to leave. His eyes dart to Sakura as she sits up in bed. Her lips remain pressed in a thin, worried line but she captures the Anbu's gaze and holds it.

"Go, Cat," demands Kakashi more sternly. The Black Op snaps out of it and in a single stride over to the window, he drops out of it.

Seven minutes.

Sakura throws the covers back and goes to the dresser, opening the third drawer from the top. Kakashi is there in one bound of his long legs, pulling out her civilian clothes. He turns to lay them on the bed.

"Get dressed, quickly. You have roughly six minutes and thirty seconds to get to the evacuation site before it begins. Keep to the southeastern path, they won't strike from that direction."

Kakashi turns sharply on his heels and pulls open the last drawer of his desk. His gloved hands dig through it quickly, pulling out a cream colored envelope.

His will.

He turns to hand it to her but stops, his one gray eye narrowing as she pulls on her ninja gear.

The red blouse drops down over her slight baby bump and she ties her headband around her hair tightly. Sakura turns to grab the bandages and her kunai holder but Kakashi takes a long step over to her and catches her wrist.

"Don't."

The kunoichi turns her viridian glare to him and wrenches herself from his hold.

"We don't have the time for this."

Five minutes and forty eight seconds.

"You said last night that you were taking the maternity leave."

The pinkette leans down and ties the weapons holder to her right leg. Next comes her pouch. She ignores him and places it on the back of her hip.

Kakashi tightens his jaw.

"As the Commander of the Leaf Shinobi Force, I am hereby forbidding you from battle."

She scoffs and shoves past him to go pick up her medical pack that lays neatly on the floor next to her sandals. Kakashi, unwilling to let it go, strides up to her and takes her face in his hands.

"For once in your life, will you please not be so stubborn?"

The kunoichi pushes his hands off of her so she can strap her medical bag to her back, patting the speciality kunai in it's place.

"I'm a medical ninja, Kakashi. I will not be joining you on the front lines for this fight or any other."

"You have a duty to our-"

"Our home and our people!" Sakura spins on her heels to face him. "We took an oath. And as of right now, I am still a shinobi enlisted in active duty. It is my _job_ to report to the hospital. And if Shizune demands that I go out into the field to aid the wounded, so be it."

"Sakura, please." Kakashi puts out his hands in front of him, pleading. His mismatched eyes search hers desperately for an inkling of hesitation so that he can convince her to take off the ninja gear and evacuate.

But there is none.

She stares steadily back at him, tugging her gloves onto her delicate hands. Kakashi's last will and testament is crumpled in his palm where he holds all of his anger and his fear.

Sakura is ready to go to war.

"Stop trying to be a hero," he exclaims. "She is more important than _any _desire to be remembered!"

For a moment, it looks like he slapped her. Her head snaps to the side to look at him again and she trembles where she stands. Green eyes narrow in a disbelieving state until they're almost slits.

"Is that what you think of me?" Her voice nearly lowers to a whisper. "That I'm running off to battle with our child inside of me because I have a goddamn hero complex!"

They really don't have the time for this. The minutes and seconds tick down like every fast beat

of Kakashi's heart. But she holds him where he stands with the fury in her voice, and he can't bring himself to move.

"I am the apprentice of the 5th Hokage. And right now, she needs me."

He reaches out a hand and touches it to her cheek where her anger pools in blotchy red spots. But she doesn't jerk away. Sakura tilts her head up to meet his frozen gaze.

"We need you," he says softly. His free palm grips at her hip suddenly and travels over the bump of her abdomen, barely concealed by the loose fit of her ninja gear. Her Will of Fire flickers, just for a moment.

Sakura drops her head into his palm and grips at his shoulders, holding him as if she needs to keep her balance. He pulls her to him, burying his face in her pink hair until he can smell her pomegranate shampoo through his mask. Until he can feel the stir of her breath against his collar.

It feels too much like a goodbye.

Sakura is the first to pull away away.

"I would never forgive myself," she says, backing away from him slowly, "if our friends die because I wasn't there." Her voice cracks. "Because I was hiding away while they ask Shizune, over and over again, 'Where is Sakura?' 'Why won't she come?'"

Two minutes and forty eight seconds. The gap between them grows larger as she continues to march her sandaled feet to the window.

"All because I didn't have the courage to tell them that I love Kakashi Hatake and we're going to have a baby." Sakura's knees hit the edge of the window sill. He watches her as if she moves in slow motion.

His hand clutches the picture of his unborn child in his pocket.

"Are you trying to kill me, Sakura?"

The sorrow in his question cuts her so deep she nearly gives in. Kakashi's ghosts, the ones hiding under his bed, in the picture frames on the dresser, in the eye staring back at her, whisper to Sakura that he's right. And she almost gives up.

But time has run out.

His entire apartment quakes against the impact of a nearby explosion. The bowls from last night's dinner clatter to the kitchen floor, shattering. From the nightstand, the lamp succumbs and shatters after it's fall and Mr. Ukki, the only plant Kakashi has ever owned, goes flying to his death upon the floor.

And then the alarm sounds.

Panic overflows the streets like a tsunami, civilians and their families pouring out of their homes. Another explosion to the west. To the east. Their keen hearing picks up the sound of kunai imbedding into flesh. Voices of shinobi they know begin to echo across the buildings, quick feet stampeding across the rooftops.

Somewhere down below, right beneath his window, a mother howls for her dying son.

"I have to go out there," she says in a gasp.

Naruto's voice rips through Kakashi's street and into the air. Kiba is not far behind, Akamaru growling like a beast.

"You have to go!" she pleads with Kakashi who currently looks lost and unable to move his feet. He stares at her as if it might be the last time he will ever see her.

And it terrifies the both of them.

"I'm coming home," she says to him urgently as she begins to climb through the window. "I promise. I will come home."

Although war rages outside his door, the flaring of hundreds of chakras bombarding him like a hail storm, he still can't find it in himself to spring into action.

The sharingan burns her worried face into his memory.

"I love you!" she says loudly, shouting it over the sound of a wind jutsu whipping past them. Sakura smells the iron of blood on the air. The noise dies down and she whispers it to him, one more time. "I love you."

Pink and red becomes a blur as it drops out of his window and into the street. He focuses on her chakra signature until it completely fades out of range, towards the east where the hospital and Shizune will undoubtedly be waiting.

His fist curls around the edges of the ultrasound picture once more as the apartment trembles again beneath the impact of another explosion. But it's not what spurs Kakashi to move his feet.

It's the sound of Obito's voice, echoing like an old drum beat inside his brain.

_That may be true. Those who break the rules are trash. But those who abandon their friends are even worse than trash. _

He thinks of Sakura's face as she backs away from him, pulled like a magnet to the sound of Naruto's voice rippling through the occupied Konoha.

And finally, Kakashi understands.

It sends his flying.

Kakashi spirals out of the window and lands in the street. Immediately, he ducks his silver head as a kunai whizzes dangerously past his ear. Slick, discreet fingers slip into his weapon's pouch and he pushes his kunai up against the blade of a Sound ninja, the clang of metal on metal like a war cry.

The enemy's dark eyes go wide with fear as he sees the sharingan spin mercilessly.

"I suggest," Kakashi begins in a low voice. His hand ignites with blue lightning and the other man's knees go weak. "You go back to where you came from."

* * *

The commander of the Jōmae army stands shoulder to shoulder with the battalion general of the Rock. They perch atop Lady Tsunade's stone head, watching sections of the Leaf go up in flame and blood. Yoshirou laughs when a young genin of his snaps the neck of a Fire genin. The sound seems to echo off the valley and it makes him giddy inside.

"How many prisoners do you need?" asks the Rock general, his hard yellowing eyes following the progress of his ninja as they cascade down over rooftops and into the streets of Konoha. "My men work better with absolute detail."

The raven haired man waves this question away and stares up at the sunrise. It bleeds orange and red, the omen to war. He grins a welcome to it.

"No prisoners, my friend." He gestures to the battle enraging Konoha. Yoshirou watches with interest as a man with a long blonde ponytail creates a sign for a jutsu that sends some unlucky Sound ninja into a fit, striking each other down until none remain. "This is simply a warning to the Leaf."

To the south end of the village, a summons, an elephant with barbed kunai tied around the edges of his husks, battles with a toad who adorns a sasumata and a sakazuki shield. Yoshirou raises an eyebrow at the yellow and orange blur flitting atop the giant amphibian's head.

Yoshirou laughs out loud, gleefully, as a swing of the elephant's trunk sends entire buildings collapsing into each other. The little blonde speck howls in fury as the rubble comes crashing down on his comrades. The two enemy commanders watch it crush the flecks of forest green amongst the village.

Yoshirou's previous intel lets the Jōmae leader know that the insufferable boy parading around like the obnoxious hero he thinks he is happens to be Naruto Uzumaki.

Time is running out for Jōmae and the Rock to make their statement.

Konoha is no longer an unparalleled power in the shinobi world, even with the apprentices of some of the greatest shinobi who ever lived running amongst the fray.

It is time for them to step down from their arrogance and bow to the alliance that will shape the ninja world into a new order, one great nation after the next.

The reign of the Land of Fire is over.

Yoshirou digs into the pocket of his robes and pulls out a bloodied picture. Naruto Uzumaki stares back at him, along with two other brats, and the happy face of none other than little Yamato himself. The Lock shinobi's hand shakes lightly as he remembers the cocky smirk on the boy's face when he escaped.

Promises about finding and gutting each other like fish were made all those months ago. And Yoshirou likes to believe himself to be a man of his word.

He absently traces the scar along his neck. His head snaps to the Rock's general who raises a single white eyebrow at him.

"Tell your men to kill every last ninja, woman, and child in this village before the hour is up. Take no one alive." Yoshirou flicks the photograph in the direction of the general who catches it easily. He examines it closely. "But if you find him, or any of his petulant brats?"

His cold blue eyes find the Rock shinobi's gaze and he can't help but shiver at the malice lurking beneath the cobalt.

"Bring them to me."

The black haired man smirks and spots the commander of the Leaf amongst the wreckage that Konoha is becoming. His silver hair glints in the early morning light. "Especially the girl."

The general tucks the picture into the pocket of his gear.

"Yamato and I," Yoshirou muses happily, "have some catching up to do."

With that, the Rock shinobi slides down the face of Tsunade and into the fray of battle to relay the message from Yoshirou Tanaka. He crosses his arms and watches happily as his men successfully tear Konoha apart at the seams.

Forty five more minutes to go.

* * *

Sakura sprints to the hospital as quickly as she can.

Neither the rooftops nor streets are safer than the other so the kunoichi takes her chances on the roads. Less open space to deal with.

A windmill shuriken flies her way and Sakura snaps back, letting it pass right over her nose as her eyes meet the sky to dodge it. With the approach of a foreign chakra signature, as she rises up, Sakura brings her fist back. It slams into the chest of an unsuspecting Waterfall ninja and she can feel his ribs caving in beneath her knuckles.

He goes flying into a fruit stand and Sakura takes off once again.

She needs to get out of the line of fire. The exertion of too much chakra at once, like in all her attacks, isn't healthy for the baby. The kunoichi suddenly side sweeps an adversary when he comes up behind her, flicking a kunai expertly into his eye once he hits the ground.

His screams rattle her as she commands her feet to move.

Sakura turns a corner and Hinata is letting the gentle fists fly, completely immobilizing the Rock nin before her with graceful strikes. She can barely see the movements of the other kunoichi's hands.

With one last shove of her palm into the man's side, he falls over, unable to move. Hinata stands, her long hair matted to her forehead with sweat and she gives a nod to Sakura as she passes by.

"Rotation!" the Hyuuga heir suddenly calls when a water dragon approaches them from the left. Her sandals whirl in the dirt, arms out, and the chakra sphere forms around her to repel the attack.

With a silent thank you directed to her friend, Sakura leaves this particular battle and treks on to the hospital. She turns another corner, heading deeper into the eastern district, and she has to stop in her tracks to witness the horror that has captured this part of Konoha.

Spots of purple, blue and forest green splatter across the pavement, bodies mangled, burned. The houses and shops are painted with a deep crimson. It smells of iron, sweat, and death.

Eyes stare up blankly at the sky, wide open.

A Leaf shinobi is torn clearly in two, his entrails slipping out of his upper half as he moans terribly that he can't feel his legs. He goes silent a moment later.

Somewhere nearby, a Sound ninja lets out a horrible wail, the waves of his jutsu assaulting her ears until they bleed. She winces and tries to run but her feet are planted firmly to the ground.

A face she knows, a chuunin gate attendant, lays with his eye burned out of their sockets. Blood stains his blonde hair orange.

The sound shinobi inches closer, still howling his horrible technique that rips through her body until she can feel the blood pool to her ears, the drums about to burst and take her hearing with her. But she's frozen to the spot, unable to move.

Unable to run from death lingering in her nose.

"Sakura!"

The pinkette is tackled to the ground, breaking the trance of the strange melodic wailing. At the last possible moment, she twists beneath the body above her so that it's her back that meets the ground and not her belly. Air leaves her lungs in loud huffs and the noise of battle comes back to her in waves. The crashes and shouts, the rubble of buildings cascading down onto the streets.

And the sound of Yamato's breath in her ear.

"It was a paralysis jutsu." He leans up on his hands to look at her. "You can't get caught off guard like that." The taichou, his almond eyes worried and grim, stare down at her and Sakura wants to crush him to her so that she can feel his heart against her chest.

He's still alive. There is still life beating through his body after so much death.

Sakura realizes he's looking at her the same way. Her hand reaches up and habitually heals the open gash spilling droplets of his blood onto her forehead.

"I'll take you to the hospital," he nearly shouts over the sound of an explosion to their left, reading her mind when her eyes dart anxiously in that direction. His arms automatically shield her head even though it's a few houses down and the rubble won't reach them.

Sakura breathes in the sweat and sandalwood of his skin, a paradise smell in the midst of metallic and smoke.

"No," she says as he hauls her quickly to her feet. "They need you out here. I can manage."

Yamato locks a stern gaze onto her face. But his hand doesn't leave hers.

"The eastern path is the most concentrated place of battle. You can't go in there alone."

Both shinobi jump apart when a kunai blade whizzes towards their intertwined hands. The distance is suddenly too wide and they clammer back together.

"I'm gonna have to if I want to get to the hospital," she says with the jut of her chin.

Yamato considers this carefully. The battle is slowly pushing from east to west so they will soon be overrun if they continue to stand around any longer.

But they'll be headed right into the thicket.

"We'll go together. Kakashi's battalion is taking the southern end while Shikaku is manning the east, we won't be completely outnumbered. We'll just have to push our way through."

Sakura wants to tell him. She wants to warn him that she can't do anything too risky.

She can't throw herself in front of him like she usually would.

But the coward in her doesn't say a word. She simply nods.

And the two of them take off towards the hospital. After months of working together, their feet join in a synchronized rhythm against the quaking earth beneath them. A Rock ninja, hot on their trail, sends the ground into a cavern, threatening to swallow them up whole if they get caught.

Too easy.

Yamato grabs onto her arm and swings her to his left where Sakura sticks to the side of the building with chakra intensified feet. The taichou simply runs across the split in the ground, his hands flying in signs as wood begins to sprout from the foundations of the village and form a bridge across the open expanse until the Rock ninja's jutsu is out of range.

The pinkette flips gracefully down beside him and they fall back into a sprinting pace.

Their lungs burn at the same speed as they pump their legs faster.

They skid onto the next block and it's full out war. Purple smoke bombs go off like canons.

Lightning rips through an Sound nin but it's too light to be Kakashi's. Yamato and Sakura skid into a crater in the ground just as a fire jutsu passes over their head, the taichou clutching the kunoichi to him when the flame gets too close.

Konohamaru and his clone, separated from his battalion, throws a rasengan into a Waterfall ninja who flies dozens of feet backwards. Yamato pulls him into the crater by his ankle, busting the boy's chin open on the ground but saves his life as a kunai pierces the air where his neck had been.

The Sarutobi breathes out a shaken thank you.

Yamato pulls him close by the front of his shirt to be heard over the roar of battle.

"The rest of the battalion is in the south. Go there and tell Kakashi that no one, and I mean absolutely _no one_, can be taken alive." The boy's eyes go wide with the implication. The taichou gives him an urgent shake. "Do you understand me?"

Konohamaru nods gravely and before Sakura can even blink, he takes off back into the fray. Yamato looks at her, his right hand trembling profusely, and she understands.

Genma must be turning over in his grave.

The two of them climb from the crater and continue their perilous trek. They work as a perfect team, moving in a rhythm that no enemy can follow. When Yamato dodges, she strikes. When he slides, she jumps. They are the push and pull of battle, obliterating every shinobi that does not belong on their land until they are naught but flesh and unseeing eyes.

She will think about the blood staining her hands later. But right now, Tsunade needs her.

A yellow and orange blur sprints up beside her and despite the ache and rage of war, Sakura gives him a smile. Yamato does the same as Sai drops in on the opposite end of their entourage.

An entire wall of enemy ninja stand between them and their destination. Naruto barks out a crude laugh, cracking his knuckles.

"Alright," the taichou says as they speed towards the farthest eastern edge of the village, "Formation C."

"Right!" the three younger shinobi respond in unison.

Yamato makes a hand sign with his right hand while the left arm completely turns to wood, sprouting from his shoulder and to the enemy. Sakura runs along the beams shooting from his body, giving a loud battle cry, her chakra intensified fist pulled back and ready to strike.

All eyes turn to her and the sprawl of Yamato's wooden spears racing towards them. What they do not see is Sai swooping in from above, atop an ink drawn eagle, as he drops kunai down onto them like rain. They hit their marks, collapsing one by one until only a few remain.

The Rock nin Sakura was aiming for leans back to avoid her fist, prepared to dodge his way out of another strike from the kunoichi.

But his attention is turned to the jinchuuriki of the Leaf as he splinters his way through Yamato's wood jutsu, the rasengan spiraling furiously through the broken shards and pieces of tree roots before landing in the chest of the last remaining enemy ninja.

From somewhere to his left, Sakura snaps the neck of a girl, not much older than herself.

Dead blue eyes stare back at her, paused as if she had been watching her life flash before them.

It rattles the kunoichi until Yamato's warm hand guides her back to herself, pulling her along beside him with the sweaty grip of his fingers.

Sakura doesn't let go.

They continue running and he points to the end of the block. The defense barrier around the hospital in order to protect the Hokage inside shimmers in the morning light. Shinobi pour the wounded into the doors and it nearly overflows.

Sakura's breath catches in her throat for only a moment.

She turns to Yamato and curls her fist into the sleeve of his shirt.

"I don't want to see you here again." Her fingers tighten around his arm. Yamato stares at her stricken face and he nods, understanding. "Go," she says quietly. "All of you." Her eyes flicker to Naruto and Sai as well.

The blonde looks back towards the battle and without another word, he runs right into it. Sai follows close behind but the taichou stays.

He lingers before her, her fingers still holding onto him as if she refuses to let him go back into the fray without her. Yamato, with a sudden bout of courage as another explosion sky rockets shinobi and rubble into the air, leans in and presses his lips to her forehead.

He closes his almond eyes as he lingers there, a pained expression on his face as he pries her hand away from his sleeve.

The absence of her touch is too profound.

"Stay alive," he whispers into her ear. Sakura shivers at his breath against her hair but before she can turn to look at him, Yamato is gone. He sprints back into battle and Sakura can only watch helplessly as she calculates all of his blind spots that she could cover if she had gone with him.

But the moans and cries from the hospital draw her attention. Her foot move automatically and Sakura bursts into the protective barrier before she can even blink again.

It is chaos. Nurses and medical ninja run about like their own lives depend on it, supplies dangling from their outstretched arms. Shinobi lay mutilated, torn and unable to stand on the lobby floor as they struggle to stay breathing. Civilians moan and sob.

A father holds his limp son to his chest and curses everything and anyone who crosses his path.

From somewhere to her right, Tsunade gives a loud cry and brings her powerful fist onto a female ninja's chest. It restarts her heart and the Hokage barks for the attendings to wheel her to the next available operating room.

Her hazel eyes meet Sakura's and she marches over her to apprentice like the wrath of Kami herself.

"Where have you been?" she demands. Blood splatter Lady Hokage's cheek but it is not her own. "We've been flooded with the injured and you were nowhere to be found!"

Sakura's pink head instantly drops to a bow.

"Forgive me! I got caught on the front lines while making my way over here with Yamato- taichou!"

The Hokage's infuriated expression fades into something like that looks like relief. Her hand comes down on the pinkette's shoulder and she gives it a squeeze. Sakura catches it and holds it there, taking comfort in the touch of her master.

"Categorize the wounded. Make all the ones who can wait stay in the lobby. Send critical to the left wing and those who-" her hazel eyes flicker. With anger? With grief? "Those who won't make it, see that they're comfortable. Treat as many as you can." The Hokage turns from her apprentice to go back to work.

Sakura nods, agreeing with her shishou, as she ties her pink hair up into a ponytail. She gets to work, sending the worse off ninja in Tsunade's direction, the ones who can be easily saved to Shizune, and treating the manageable ones on her own.

The kunoichi snaps the bone of a ninja's leg back into his skin. She's about to heal the tissue and marrow with a medicinal green hand when the doors of the hospital burst open and he's there, shouting for her.

Shikamaru doesn't raise his voice unless he absolutely has to.

"Cherry!" he bellows over the collective howl and moan of the hospital lobby. "Sakura!" He gets louder and it takes every ounce of will in her not to get up and run to him. The shinobi beneath her wriggles in pain and she has to heal his injury with just as much focus and attention as she would give to a friend.

But the anxiety claws it's way up her chest as she puts the finishing touches to reconstructing his bone back together.

Who is it?

Who might never show up to Friday Fun Day again?

Whose funeral will they have to attend in the morning?

These questions plague her as she rises to her feet and tries to find him through the crowd. His spiky hair is there, swiveling back and forth as he looks for her amongst the masses.

Blonde is the first thing she sees spilling over the edge of his arm.

"Oh my god," she says to herself, shoving past a nameless chuunin to get to Shikamaru. Sakura immediately starts testing Ino's vitals.

"No she's alive, she's not injured!" he explains, mouth moving faster than the rest of his body. "It's her-"

At that moment Ino's pale blue eyes shoot open and she screams like a banshee, blood curling and shrill as if she faces the devil himself.

"Naruto Uzumaki is the nine tails jinchuuriki of the Leaf! His parents are Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, and Kushina Uzumaki!"

"Ino!" Sakura hisses, trying to make her friend look at her. "That's classified, stop!"

"The Anbu are the only one who have access to the Hokage's personal living quarters," Ino continues as she thrashes in pain. She lets out another shrieking howl and her fingernails claw into Shikamaru's cheek. Three bloody lines curve down towards his jaw but he only tightens his hold on Ino. "It's hidden beneath Hokage Tower. The access code to get in is-"

Sakura slaps her hand over Ino's mouth but it keeps moving, even beneath Sakura's palm. Her green eyes snap to Shikamaru and his grim face stares back at her.

Sakura watches him stammer, tripping over his words.

Gone are Shikaku and Asuma from his young face. Gone is the young man who let vengeance burn it's way through his heart until he took the life of the man who killed his sensei.

She watches the boy who stares at clouds start to crumble beneath the weight of Ino's screams.

"She was hit with some k-kind of mind jutsu-or something-by a Lock ninja. I thought she could handle it but it's, it wasn't-the Yamanaka clan has never seen it before-there was no way she could've known! Ino started blurting out Village secrets to the attacker and when I shadow possessed her to keep her from talking-"

Sakura's best friend suddenly stops breathing. Her face turns red as she struggles to take another lungful of air, clawing at her throat as if something is lodged inside.

"We have to get Tsunade," the kunoichi declares when Ino's lips begin to turn blue. Sakura marks Ino's forehead with a red x and immediately, a team of medical ninja come to her side with a stretcher. They wrestle Ino onto it, prying her from Shikamaru's arms who is determined to pummel anyone else who touches her.

The blonde's eyes bulge out of her pretty face as she still struggles for breath.

But still, she reaches a delicate hand out to Shikamaru and grabs the front of his shirt.

"It's gonna be alright, Ino," he says, voice shaking. The Nara boy jogs beside her stretcher as they wheel her to the critical wing where Tsunade is just finishing up with a man whose legs have been amputated.

Shizune wheels him away and when the Hokage's eyes settle on the Yamanaka girl, Sakura swears she sees Tsunade forget to blink.

But it's over as soon as it arrives.

Shikamaru smooths Ino's bangs back to see both of her pale eyes when she is finally able to suck in a breath, choking it down like a woman dying of thirst before the screaming starts again.

She wails and Tsunade has the medical team strap her down.

"Asuma Sarutobi is succeeded by one nephew and one son! Konohamaru Sarutobi is the unofficial student of Naruto Uzumaki!" Ino's bark arches and her eyes roll back into her head as Tsunade hovers her medicinal green hand over her head to observe her mind. And yet, her hoarse voice keeps screeching out to anyone who will listen, "His primary attacks are the Shadow Clone Technique and the Rasengan of the Fourth Hokage. He lives on Otaka road with his mother-"

Tsunade shouts over Ino's rambling to Sakura who stands at the ready, hands out and itching to help. She tries not to look at Ino's face.

"It's not her mind," Tsunade declares. "It's her mouth." The Hokage grabs a hold of the girl's cheeks and opens her jaw wide. Sakura peers in and sees the sigils of a jutsu curved along the Yamanaka's tongue.

"How do we get rid of it?" Sakura demands. No answer. Tsunade stares as Ino stops breathing again when she refuses to give out any more information. The blonde turns an ugly shade of purple.

Shikamaru stands so silently next to Sakura that she forgets he's there.

Tsunade nods to her apprentice, having the same thought, and the two of them start to wheel Ino out to the next available chamber. The Nara boy tries to block their path but with a quick shove with her shoulder, Tsunade sends him to the side.

"Go back to the front lines, Shikamaru." Her light eyes search his dark ones. His hand absently reaches for Ino's which stretches out for him again, despite the restraints, but the Hokage slaps her fingers around his wrist.

Tightly. Reassuringly.

"You are of no use to her now." Her face softens when he flinches back. "You did all you can."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" he barks back, mouth stretched into a hard line. "Is that what you're going to tell me when you can't fix her? 'I did all I could'?"

Sakura is the one who flinches now and doesn't miss the pointed stare that he gives her. Tsunade moves past him, giving his shoulder a pat, and wheels the thrashing Ino down into chamber 3.

She lets her apprentice linger.

Yet Sakura has no words. Ino's condition is new, uncharted territory. They will try the simplest of remedies first; jutsu reversals, curse mark sealings. Most likely, someone from the Intelligence department will come and fumble around in her brain. It's obviously an interrogation technique, most likely thrown out to Ino in a last desperate attempt from the enemy to fight back in the face of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation.

And by some lucky chance, it worked.

But both shinobi know that Ino is not dying. She stops breathing only as long as she is unable to give information. As long as Tsunade lets Ino keep talking, she won't be in any immediate danger.

It kills Sakura. Literally curls her insides into ash that she's categorizing her own best friend as just another patient.

Ino can wait. Others cannot.

"Go back to the front lines, Shika," she says softly. His dark eyes turn to her and he almost pleads for her to stop talking. But something in her face tells him to listen. "The village has been infiltrated. Konoha has plunged into war and right now, as you stand here talking to me, our men are without one of our best soldiers and Choji is without a partner."

"I can't just leave her-"

"Yes you can!" she suddenly snaps. He takes a step back and from somewhere down the hall, he can still hear Ino's muffled screams. "We all have somebody who might not make it home tonight."

A deafening silence stretches between them as they count the faces of their friends, their family. There are too many. Too many smiles and bright eyes. Lives that could be gone faster than either of them can blink.

Ino's screams start to sound farther and farther away.

Sakura suddenly reaches for him and crushes Shikamaru to her. He doesn't hug back, simply stands there, arms limp, and drops his head down onto her shoulder. His lungs take a shaky breath, gathering back his courage as she whispers against his ear.

"Do not waste his Will of Fire."

She doesn't say his name. She never has to. But those were the right words to say because suddenly, Shikamaru stiffens, straightening his spine and snaps his eyes to meet hers as if he's seeing her clearly for the first time.

She sees him pushing Ino back into a place where he can't reach so easily. She watches as he makes his limbs move and keeps his heart pumping even though all he wants to do is stop and wait for Ino to come home.

Sakura did the same for Kakashi this morning. And for Yamato out in the field.

He would make the same sacrifice.

"Stay alive," she says to him with a smile, echoing the taichou's words. Shikamaru gives her head the slightest of pats, the merest touch of his palm against her hair, and is sprinting back towards the lobby and out the door before she can say, "See you later."

* * *

Sakura gathers her courage as well and follows his steps, facing the second wave of injured as war continues to rage on Konoha's doorstep.

Yamato, as he has a thousand times before, ducks as soon as he feels Kakashi's chakra tingling at the back of his neck. The chidori goes right over the top of his head and into the chest of the general of the Rock. His yellowing eyes roll back into his head, blood dripping down from the hole where his heart should be until he is no more.

The man's body hits the dirt with a hard thud. Yamato spins on his left heel and the two men, Commander and Lieutenant, stand back to back. They pant in unison, sweat cascading down their dirt stained cheeks as Konoha finally begins to turn the tide.

It's been thirty two minutes into the invasion and the Leaf has finally rebounded from the element of surprise that Jōmae had so sneakily gained. But the battle for the village is not over just yet.

A sound ninja comes hurtling towards Yamato's blind spot. Instinctually, Kakashi grabs onto his forearm and with a forceful tug, he swings his companion around in a half circle. The taichou's feet automatically go out, kicking the enemy in the face once, then cracking his neck in two with the other foot. He lands back down to the ground and they dodge roll into opposite directions to avoid Kiba and Akamaru's vicious Fang over Fang as a Lock ninja sprints right past them, reeking of urine.

Fire singes the back of Yamato's hair and he hisses, forming a hand sign before anyone can even blink. His shell of wood encases him, shrouding him in shade and protection, until the flame passes over him. He uses this chance to catch a breath or two.

'_Stay alive', he whispers against Sakura's forehead, his lips mumbling his words against her skin as if he can make them stain. _

The taichou opens his eyes and unfurls the jutsu, squinting back out into the bright morning sun. Kakashi's hounds whip past him, sinking their teeth into a Waterfall ninja who had grabbed Konohamaru by the back of his scarf. The boy takes his chance and creates a clone, fixating the Rasengan into it's spherical form where he jams it, rather viciously, into the shinobi's face.

His screams whip across the battlefield and settle into Kakashi's bones as he watches blood permeate the young Sarutobi's dark eyes.

He backs up against Yamato again. The enemies are beginning to approach in smaller numbers, almost unnoticeable to the untrained eye.

"A retreat?" Tenzou asks in a pant. He can feel Kakashi shake his silver head.

"It feels wrong," he replies. The jonin clenches his jaw beneath his mask. "They're planning something."

Their thoughts are suddenly snapped to a screaming Moegi who is currently being dragged by her unusual hair by a Lock ninja. Her eyes bore into Konohamaru's who can only spare her a glance, unable to move as he remains locked in a lightning speed battle of taijutsu. One wrong move and he's dead.

The young genin kicks and screams and Kakashi realizes by the flopping of her arms that they've both been broken.

She can't make a hand sign.

The copy ninja takes a step towards her but he's intercepted by an earth jutsu, making the ground beneath him turn to mud and suck him down like something carnivorous. Kakashi occupies himself with devising an escape plan involving a substitution, a clone, and a fire jutsu.

He won't be able to get to her in time.

"Moegi!" Konohamaru screeches over the roar of battle. A fist goes flying into the boy's jaw and he's sent several feet away. He rolls painfully against the hard ground, several ribs now broken and takes a gasping breath. "Moegi!" he cries again, trying to haul himself up to his feet. A sandaled foot goes into his temple and it flips Konohamaru onto his back, staring up at the sky. Stars explode behind his eyelids.

He can't get to her. Not now.

Yamato finishes off a Sound ninja with a kunai to the chest when he hears the genin scream. The corner of his almond eye catches a glint of silver in her hand and he snaps his head in her direction, his feet already moving towards her.

Moegi sniffs, tears streaming down her eternally blushed cheeks, and Yamato stiffens. She holds her kunai, supported by her broken arm, to her own throat. It trembles profusely and it almost falls from her fingertips.

His words echo back to him painfully.

'_Go to Kakashi in the south, Konohamaru, and tell him that no one, and I mean absolutely no one, can be taken alive." The boy looks unsteadily back at him. Yamato grabs him by the front of his shirt and gives him a shake. "Do you understand me?"_

It seemed so plausible then. To warn Kakashi who would in turn warn the entire Shinobi Force that a prisoner of Jōmae is a worse fate than death. That the entire survival of Konoha depends on whether or not they take a captive.

And yet, as Yamato watches Moegi start to drive the kunai into her throat, unknown words falling from her trembling lips, the taichou regrets his order.

He hears Konohamaru scream for her to stop but it sounds a thousand years away. Yamato's feet can't move fast enough.

She looks so small, one arm uselessly dragging beside her, the other painfully about to end her life. All for Konoha.

All for the Will of Fire.

"Whoa there, sweetheart." A gloved hand snatches at Moegi's wrist and holds the blade back just as it pricks her skin. A line of red streaks down like tears along her throat and she takes what looks like a breath of relief.

And maybe shame.

"Let's not not do anything stupid, shall we?" calls the cheerful voice, tugging the kunai from Moegi's too tight fingers. He steps on her broken wrist and she howls, releasing the weapon.

Yamato narrows his eyes at Yoshirou, lips turning up into an inhuman growl.

The ghost of his captivity runs a finger up the taichou's spine as he stares at his previous captor in his too serene face. His hard blue eyes devour Yamato hungrily, expectantly.

"Hello, boy," he says. The Lock ninja gives the young Leaf genin at his feet a good casual kick in the ribs and Tenzou can hear the crack beneath his sandal. She wails again but when she tries to get up and flee, he drags her back by her hair. "I believe I have something of yours."

Yamato watches an old flicker of malice in the man's eyes and he can't help but shrink back. He swears the screams on the battlefield have suddenly turned into the last cries of Akira and he wants to flee. Every bone in his body tells him to run, to avoid this ninja and all the evil he leaves in his wake but the taichou is no coward.

At least not today.

"I'll kill you," he says in a low growl. War wages around them and yet, there is only him and Yoshirou. The young genin's life hangs in the balance between them and Yamato finds himself shoulder to shoulder with Kakashi once again. His right hand is splattered with the blood of an enemy, the smell of lightning still lingering on his silver hair

Yoshirou's grin only widens.

"What an honor it is to meet the Commander! Kakashi, isn't it? Copy Ninja of the Leaf, how very lucky I am to face you on the first day of battle."

He says nothing back, his sharingan locking onto Moegi. She stills beneath his fixating gaze, watching it turn slowly into the Mangekyo. Yoshirou nearly bounces on his heels with excitement.

"You really are a sight to behold, Wolf-san!" Kakashi bristles at the use of his Anbu name. "The last sharingan of the Leaf. How impressive." The Lock commander snaps Moegi's head back by her hair and she whimpers beneath his hold. Yamato can see her knees trembling against the ground.

"I suggest you return my soldier to me," Kakashi calls out. He gives an eye crinkling smile, danger still lurking in the slow twirl of his one red eye. "Or you will pay the price."

Yoshirou tilts his head back and laughs. He gives Moegi an affectionate pat on the head and she shrinks away.

"I'm afraid you, Yamato and I are going to play a game." He tugs the genin closer to him until her cheek leans against his thigh. Yoshirou holds her there forcefully. His hand strokes her hair like a pet and it makes Yamato uneasy.

His stomach churns.

"Let's call it the 'Who would you choose game'."

Both jonin stop breathing. Yesterday's battalion training comes back to them in a rush and it knocks the wind from Kakashi but he keeps a straight face. From beside him, Yamato stiffens. He furls and unfurls his right hand, tremoring next to Kakashi's and they communicate without words.

There's a spy in Konoha.

"I believe you're very fond of this game, yes?" The man raises a black eyebrow, his cold steel blue eyes boring into the both of them. "The first choice is obviously little-oh dear-" He looks down at Moegi. "What's your name, child?"

The genin gives him no answer. In a sudden fit of bravery, tears still running down her blushed cheeks, she spits up into his face.

Yamato cracks a smile.

"My name is Moegi!"

Yoshirou wipes the spittle off his nose with his free hand and gives a chuckle.

"Kakashi, Yamato? Little Moegi here is your first choice. I have her cornered, unable to move, unable to flee." He gives a wink to the taichou. "And as your lieutenant knows, captivity is not suitable for something so small and delicate but…" He stomps on the girl's already broken hand and she wails. "Those cards seem to be the winning hand so far."

And there it is. Kakashi can feel the dread growing in his gut. It sneaks up his spine and into his mouth where his throat runs dry and he suddenly can't think straight.

The ultrasound picture in his pocket attempts to burn holes through skin.

"And the second choice is..." Yoshirou's hard eyes cascade over the still unfurling battle. "Whoever shall I pick?" He spots Naruto's bright jacket, the glow of the Rasengan illuminating the marks of the sage across his eyes. "Your beloved future Hokage and your student, Kakashi. He is your legacy after all." Yoshirou smiles and then turns his gaze to Kurenai, locked in a genjutsu with a Sound ninja who sways heavily on his feet, driving a kunai mercilessly into his own gut.

"The only remaining parent of Asuma Sarutobi's child?" The Lock ninja grins when he sees Kakashi's hand curl into a fist at the mention of his name.

"You've always been the first to run your mouth," Yamato calls from across the field. "Your bluff holds no weight when you only have one captive."

Yoshirou feints a confused, defeated slap to his forehead.

"Oh goodness, I'm forgetting to mention that my men have successfully eliminated the Anbu holding up the barrier around the Hokage's current location." He grins an awful smile. "Some of you Leaf ninja are so weak in the mind. One little basic jutsu from Jōmae has Konoha soldiers singing like canaries."

"You lie," Tenzou spits. Yoshirou turns his attention to Kakashi who has suddenly grown far too still.

"Call them on your communicator, Commander. See if you can reach your team."

Kakashi's hand reaches up, as if automatically, and presses a finger to the piece in his ear.

"Bear, status report." Nothing but static. Kakashi presses it again. "Crane, what is your location?" He tries every code name on the roster but only the eerie silence of static greets him.

From across the field, Yoshirou chuckles. He sniggers and it builds into a roaring laughter that quiets the battlefield into silence. The sound is unsettling amongst the blood and shouts of war that no one moves.

No one breathes.

Fear grips Kakashi by the throat and he slams his finger down onto the ear piece once again.

This can't be happening. That Anbu team was his own, one of the most elite in the entire Black Ops division and they were defeated.

The Hokage is in danger.

And so is his child.

"All units in the eastern district report to the hospital! Every single shinobi within a mile radius, go immediately!"

Yoshirou continues to laugh. Already, Leaf soldiers scattered across the battlefield that used to be sprint off into that direction. The enemy follows, pursuing. But Yamato, Kakashi, the Lock commander and little Moegi, stay.

"I have the hospital surrounded, Kakashi." He smiles at the taichou. "Little Yamato. No one, not your Hokage, not your medical nin, and especially not your wounded, will be able to escape."

Everything in their bodies screams for them to run, to sprint as fast as they can to protect the Hokage. To protect their people and their peers but the fear in Moegi's eyes keep them planted to the ground.

"Leave me!" she cries out. "Go protect the Hokage!"

Yoshirou smiles down at the girl and gives her another affectionate pat, one hand still tangled painfully in her hair. He grinds the heel of his sandal down onto her shattered wrist.

Kakashi can see the chakra networks beneath her skin starting to rip apart. If he doesn't act quickly, she'll lose the ability to yield jutsu. Her life as a ninja will be over.

But the lives of the hundreds at the hospital in the light of comparison with one genin?

The Hokage. The countless shinobi and civilians.

His lover and their child.

Kakashi stares at little Moegi and he sees Rin staring back at him. Captured, incapacitated.

Guilty.

The copy nin snaps his gaze to Yoshirou. And the lightning blade ignites in his right hand.

The Lock commander raises an amused eyebrow and laughs.

"Looks like you've made your choice, Kakashi. Small, helpless Moegi over your Hokage, over your people." He grins with all his teeth. "Over the woman you both love."

Yamato stiffens. His heart stutters profoundly in his chest and he remembers the hard light of war in her green eyes. The hard grip of her hand on his sleeve. His sandals shift restlessly against the ground, every bone in his body telling him to run. To go before it's too late.

Moegi watches both men bristle at Yoshirou's words and she knows, they see it dawning on her face, that they won't pick her.

Yamato feels disgusted with himself. He feels like a traitor to his land and to his brothers in arms but there is a call much greater driving his feet now.

He does not have the strength that Kakashi has. He never did.

The taichou turns on his heels and leaves Moegi to the mercy of Yoshirou while Kakashi stays.

The Lock commander gives a low whistle of surprise.

"Now this is interesting. As I understand it, you stole her from him, didn't you?" Yoshirou cocks his head to the side, wondering. Calculating. "Yet he goes and you stay. Don't you love your little Sakura, Kakashi? Don't you want to go home to her pretty face tonight?" His shoulders shake with a chuckle. "Yet you just signed her death certificate!"

"I don't abandon my comrades." Kakashi narrows his sharingan at Moegi. "And I will not abandon my men."

The Mangekyo forms against his red eye once again and the air between him and Yoshirou starts to ripple as reality begins to bend and rip in a straight directional line to the genin. He strains his eye until it feels like it will explode in it's socket, desperate to reach her so he can get out of there.

So he can run to his King.

"I'm sorry, Wolf-san." A glint of silver catches the gaze of his one gray orb. "But I make the rules."

There is no time. There are not enough seconds for him to close the distance between himself and Moegi.

He's too late.

Yoshirou grips the kunai dangling from his sleeve by the handle. And before Moegi can even blink, he slams the tip into her throat.

Kakashi calls out her name and reality snaps back into place and pain shoots up into his brain from the sharingan. But it still whirls and clicks her slacked jaw and horrified eyes into his memory.

The earth spins too uneasily beneath his feet.

He will see the blood gushing down her neck, staining her pink shirt until there is no more left to spare, in his dreams tonight and every other night as long as he lives.

"K-" Moegi sputters red until her teeth shine with it. "Konohama-" But she can't finish. The genin gurgles and her eyes go still. Cold and unseeing and she slumps against Yoshirou's leg.

He looks down at her like an insect and kicks her body away.

Bored of this game, he presses a finger to his own ear piece. And he gives Kakashi a sly grin.

"Kill them all."

The ground shakes beneath Kakashi's feet and he looks to the east. He can see the roof of the hospital begin to cave into itself, rumbling down to it's shingles and tiles, leaving nothing but a cloud of smoke and debris where it once stood.

His heart does the same and Kakashi leaves Moegi to her fate.

Her lifeless eyes burn hotly in the back of his head.

_Too late, too slow. Shameful, weak. _

_Guilty. _

He leaves her with a howl trapped inside his mask and he sprints, faster than he has ever sprinted before, to the east where every Leaf shinobi is heading as well.

Kakashi pushes through the crowd, pumping his legs until they burn with the effort. Without him noticing, the enemy begins to retreat. They slip back into the shadows and alleys of Konoha, crawling like spiders back to their leader.

But none of that matters. He is not the Commander right now. He is not Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja of the Leaf who will soon lead Konoha to a vengeful victory against Jōmae.

He is a father. And he is late.

Shinobi crawl into the wreckage like ants, trying to pull as many as they can from the rubble and the pipes and the bricks of the broken hospital. Unmoving eyes stare up at him as he treks through the shambles, looking for a sign, just a glimmer of her pink hair.

He starts digging with his bare hands, the world silencing behind him as ninja wail and grunt with the effort of clearing the way to wrestle survivors out of the pile of ash that the hospital now is.

"Kakashi!" Guy calls from somewhere to his right. But the copy ninja keeps digging, the sharingan restlessly implanting every face he could've saved into his memroy as he continues to search for Sakura.

The ultrasound picture pulses like a fading heartbeat in his pocket. He panics.

"Kakashi!" Guy calls again. The jonin whips around, dust and soot covering his hands and his hair, and he narrows his eyes at the jonin.

The green beast points to the north.

And he sees it. The undeniable roots of Yamato's wood jutsu unfurling from it's dome and then digging through the wreckage until they reach the sunlight.

Blonde pigtails emerge first. Her chakra presence, angered and grieving, engulfs them all like a heavy blanket in the summer. The heat of her fury is blinding.

Shizune is next, her small hand hovering over her trembling lips as she watches Izumo and Kotetsu haul a civilian out from under a pipe that flattens her legs.

Too many seconds pass. Kakashi's chest tightens painfully and he's about to call out her name but then he sees it. The pink of Sakura's hair against the blue sky and the flash of her green eyes as she takes in the sight of what has become of the hospital, climbing out from the wreckage.

Her eyes glance in his direction and he searches her body with his gaze, looking for anything that might cause alarm. Anything that needs attention.

But the girl clambers down the rubble towards him and Kakashi can breathe again.

He can feel his lungs gratefully sucking down air as he watches her make her way to him.

However, it isn't him that she's is racing to.

Sakura passes right by him, their shoulders brushing against one another's, and Kakashi turns to follow her with his mismatched eyes.

Shikamaru, standing on the edge of the catastrophe, looks at Sakura like she's missing a limb. A look passes between them and he starts talking incoherently, gesturing at her wildly and raising his voice.

"You told me to leave her! You told me to go back and now look at this! LOOK AT IT."

The boy's face pinches together and he holds it all in, letting it rack his shoulders as Sakura pulls him to her by the front of his flak jacket. He resists, trying to pry his way away from her, stammering and hollering something about how he can't breathe.

Shikamaru buries his face into her shoulder and he fists his hands into the red of her shirt. He grasps at the Haruno symbol on her back and he shuts his eyes so tightly, Kakashi thinks he never wants to open them again.

Which is understandable.

All around him, people sob. They hover over the bodies of their loved ones and they howl. Others cry of happiness but Shikamaru takes in breath like he doesn't remember how to.

And when his eyes finally open and he looks back to where Sakura and the Hokage had sprung up from, Kakashi realizes as he follows the boy's stare.

Both Shikamaru and Sakura sink to the ground as the genius spills down onto his knees. He sobs into Sakura's neck as if she can save him.

Yamato watches her own shoulders begin to shake as her shakily climbs his way out of the rubble. Blonde hair spills over the edge of his arm and Kakashi's left knee nearly gives out.

Ino's pale blue eyes stare up at the matching sky, cold.

And unmoving.

Kakashi suddenly understands and he grieves.

Lady Tsunade comes to stand beside him. Her chakra is suffocating, covering him like scalding hot water but he lets it.

He deserves it.

The Hokage stares at her people still clawing their way through the remnants of her hospital. Too many broken, too many crushed and bleeding.

Too many stained with the call of war. The Hokage balls her bloodied hands into fists.

"They will pay for this, Kakashi." She makes a step towards a civilian with a shard of metal sticking out of his chest to their right. "And you will see it done."

The Commander nods his head and watches the Hokage go but he does not have it in him to speak.

Shikaku, prying his son away from Sakura, turns his head up to look at Kakashi. The kunoichi's eyes follow the patriarch's stare and they settle on Kakashi.

She spares him a glance but not a second more.

Instead he watches Yamato carry Ino's body down to her father who collapses beneath his weight. The taichou passes her into the first pair of arms that ever held her and he bows his head in grief.

Inoichi wails. Terribly. Horribly. His turquoise eyes leak profusely and he shudders, fading into the shell of a man that Kakashi doesn't recognize right before his eyes.

"Ino!" he sobs. He cradles her pretty head to his chest as if his own heartbeat will make her jolt back to life. "INO!"

But it is not Kakashi that Sakura wraps her arms around to grieve over the death of her best friend as she watches Inoichi turn his Yamanaka eyes to the sky, his mouth rippling with a grief so great, everyone averts their eyes.

It is not Kakashi she runs to.

Yamato opens his arms to her and Sakura fists her hands into his hair but she does not cry. She stares over her captain's shoulder at Inoichi who tries to shake life back into his daughter, saying her name over and over again as if he can call her back.

With one hand curled at the small of her back and the other tangled in her pink hair, Yamato looks up at Kakashi and the two men share a thought that both ties them together and rips them apart.

It could've been her.

Kakashi watches Shikamaru struggle against the hold of his father, tears streaming down the boy's dirtied face until he can't see clearly.

Tenzou tightens his arms around Sakura who lets out a whimper as Ino's mother pushes through the crowd. She skids down next to her husband and immediately, she covers her face with her hands.

Kakashi looks away. He can't bear it any longer. And he grips the picture in his pocket with a hand so tight, it hurts.

It could've been her.


End file.
